Asia-Pacific Forestry Sector Outlook Study
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ASIA-PACIFIC FORESTRY SECTOR OUTLOOK STUDY WORKING PAPER SERIES Working Paper No: APFSOS/WP/50 THE UTILIZATION, PROCESSING AND DEMAND FOR RUBBERWOOD AS A SOURCE OF WOOD SUPPLY by Joerg Balsiger Consultant FAO Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific Jamal Bahdon Consultant FAO Forestry Planning and Statistics Branch and Adrian Whiteman Forestry Officer (Sector Studies) FAO Forestry Planning and Statistics Branch Forestry Policy and Planning Division, Rome Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific, Bangkok Rome, December 2000 Balsiger, Bahdon and Whiteman The Asia-Pacific Forestry Sector Outlook Study is being undertaken under the auspices of the Asia-Pacific Forestry Commission. This report comes under Workplan Number E24.2. The utilization, processing and demand for rubberwood as a source of wood supply Asia-Pacific Forestry Sector Outlook Study Working Paper Series No: 50 TABLE OF CONTENTS INFORMATION NOTE ON ASIA-PACIFIC FORESTRY SECTOR OUTLOOK STUDY...................................................................................... I ABBREVIATIONS ...................................................................................................... III EXECUTIVE SUMMARY............................................................................................ V 1 INTRODUCTION........................................................................................................... 1 2 RESOURCE PROPERTIES..........................................................................................3 2.1 Asian origins.................................................................................................................................... 3 2.2 Rubber tree cultivation................................................................................................................... 3 2.3 Environmental considerations ....................................................................................................... 5 2.4 Rubberwood yield........................................................................................................................... 7 2.5 Rubberwood properties.................................................................................................................. 8 3 RESOURCE AVAILABILITY....................................................................................11 3.1 Rubber plantations ....................................................................................................................... 11 3.1.1 Indonesia.............................................................................................................................. 13 3.1.2 Malaysia............................................................................................................................... 14 3.1.3 Thailand............................................................................................................................... 16 3.1.4 India..................................................................................................................................... 17 3.1.5 China.................................................................................................................................... 18 3.2 Rubberwood production .............................................................................................................. 19 3.2.1 Malaysia............................................................................................................................... 19 3.2.2 Thailand............................................................................................................................... 20 3.2.3 India..................................................................................................................................... 21 3.3 Ownership...................................................................................................................................... 22 3.3.1 Indonesia.............................................................................................................................. 23 3.3.2 Malaysia............................................................................................................................... 24 3.4 Switch to other crops .................................................................................................................... 25 4 RUBBERWOOD UTILIZATION...............................................................................27 4.1 Industrial processing of rubberwood ..........................................................................................28 4.1.1 Primary industrial processing............................................................................................... 28 4.1.2 Secondary industrial processing........................................................................................... 31 4.1.3 4.1.3. Other uses .................................................................................................................. 33 4.2 Rubberwood cost and prices ........................................................................................................ 33 4.2.1 Stumpage prices................................................................................................................... 34 4.2.2 Log and sawnwood prices....................................................................................................35 4.3 Current consumption in producing countries ............................................................................ 38 4.3.1 Consumption by the primary processing industries ............................................................. 38 4.3.2 Consumption by the secondary processing industries.......................................................... 38 4.4 Current world demand for rubberwood..................................................................................... 38 The utilization, processing and demand for rubberwood as a source of wood supply Balsiger, Bahdon and Whiteman 5 OUTLOOK.................................................................................................................... 41 5.1 Rubberwood availability...............................................................................................................41 5.1.1 Malaysia ...............................................................................................................................42 5.1.2 Thailand................................................................................................................................44 5.1.3 Indonesia ..............................................................................................................................45 5.2 Rubberwood demand by processing industries...........................................................................46 5.3 Export potential of rubberwood furniture ..................................................................................47 5.4 Export potential of rubberwood sawnwood................................................................................53 6 CONCLUSION ............................................................................................................. 55 REFERENCES.............................................................................................................. 57 ANNEX A: NOMENCLATURE OF RUBBER TREE CLONES............................ 61 Clonal seedling families ............................................................................................................................62 The utilization, processing and demand for rubberwood as a source of wood supply Asia-Pacific Forestry Sector Outlook Study Working Paper Series No: 50 LISTING OF FIGURES AND TABLES Figure 1 World production of natural rubber in 1999.................................................................4 Figure 2 Nutrient removal and yield of different crops...............................................................6 Figure 3 Rubber plantation harvesting in major Asia-Pacific producer countries in 1990-1999...............................................................................................................12 Figure 4 Rubber plantation harvesting in minor Asia-Pacific producer countries in 1990-1999...............................................................................................................13 Figure 5 Age distribution of rubber plantations in Peninsular Malaysia in 1993 .....................16 Figure 6 Wood quantity exploited from old rubber trees in Thailand in 1986-1996 ...............20 Figure 7 Oil palm and natural rubber areas harvested in Malaysia 1990-99.............................26 Figure 8 Flow of rubberwood logs and primary products in Malaysia in 1992 ........................27 Figure 9 Malaysian exports of furniture in 1988-1995 .............................................................32 Figure 10 Adjusted outlook to 2016 for rubberwood log availability in Malaysia.....................44 Figure 11 Adjusted outlook to 2016 for rubberwood sawnwood availability in Malaysia.........44 Table 1 Usable and available trunk volume/ha from nine Hevea cultivars before felling.........8 Table 2 Strength properties of (air-dried) rubberwood and other species .................................9 Table 3 Rubber plantation area of major producing countries in 1999 ...................................11 Table 4 Rubberwood production trend in the three top countries ...........................................12 Table 5 Trend