BUTTERWORTH, May 7 — The Plantation Industries and Commodities Ministry (KPPK) plans to set up a timber industry hub in Penang to help resolve the issue of factory management costs faced by industry players.
Minister Datuk Dr Mohd Khairuddin Aman Razali said based on the feedback received from timber factory operators in the state, they were having issues with factory management cost as Penang is a high-income and advanced state.
“I see the need to resolve the issue and I will ask the Malaysian Timber Council and the Malaysian Timber Industry Board to conduct a study on this,” he told reporters after a dialogue session with timber industry players here, today.
He said the hub could also assist the timber industry in the region to expand further.
Mohd Khairuddin said Penang has more than 100 timber industry operators and they needed cooperation from all quarters to progress.
“The timber industry contributed RM22.02 billion in export revenue last year, of which Penang contributed 5.3 per cent or RM1.16 billion,” he said.
Meanwhile, Mohd Khairuddin said all commodity industries in the country, including the timber industry, were being managed in a sustainable manner.
He stressed that the timber industry was not the cause of climate change.
“We are very lucky because over 50 per cent of the country’s area is still covered in forest which is among the oldest forest ecosystem in the world and we also have 50 per cent of forest reserves,” he said.
He added that the Malaysian Timber Certification Council was the body responsible to monitor the timber industry’s compliance with the stipulated sustainability standards and any company that fails to do so is not allowed to export their products. — Bernama
