The Chairman of the Association of Indonesian Forest Concessionaires (APHI), Indroyono Soesilo, has called for more efforts by the Indonesian embassies in Europe to identify market opportunities for wood products. Source: Tropical Timber Market Report
He pointed out that the European Union is the fourth largest export destination for Indonesian forest products after China, Japan and the United States.
In 2019, Indonesian forest product exports to the European Union earned more than US$1 billion.
Mr Indroyono said the pandemic had dented exports of Indonesian forest products to Europe. In the first 5 months of 2020 there was a 17% year on year decline in the value of exports.
The Indonesian Ambassador for Belgium, Luxembourg and the European Union, Yuri Thamrin, reported that demand for forest product in the EU member states is over US$150 billion annually but Indonesia’s share of the market is very low.
Mr Yuri suggested it would help if Indonesia had warehousing facilities for Indonesian wood products at one of the main ports to raise efficiency and lower the logistics costs.
