Status of plywood mill in peninsular Malaysia from 1990 to 1999 / Mohd Shahrul Aswandi Mohd Rasid

Plywood is the one of the wood-based product that produces by the plywood mills in Peninsular Malaysia about half century ago. Plywood is the wood-based panel that was along time in the market. The used is not specific, from the construction industry to the material for the furniture making. The number of plywood mills in Peninsular Malaysia decreased from years to years that was 19 mills in 1990 to 34 mills in 1999. This study was conducted to know the status of plywood mills in Peninsular Malaysia from 1990 to 1999. The study that had been done including the consumption of logs by plywood mills, production of plywood mills, number of workers in plywood mills, local sales of plywood mills, import and export for the plywood. The last one is the average local price of plywood (4 x 8 feet) in Peninsular Malaysia. From the study, the registered for the plywood mills increased from 43 mills in 1990 to 50 mills in 1999, but the number of plywood mills that in operation was decreased from 39 mills to 34 mills in 1999. For the consumption of logs by plywood mills decreased from 1,955,680 cubic metres in 1990 to 1,080,691 cubic metres in 1999. The production of plywood by plywood mills also decreased from 955,088 cubic metres in 1990 to 598,969 cubic metres in 1999. The numbers of workers decreased from 17,0712 workers in 1990 to 9,812 workers in 1999. The local sales of plywood increased from 256,440 cubic metres in 1990 to 418,870 cubic metres in 1999. For the export of plywood the total was decreased from 678,021 cubic metres in 1990 to 276,750 cubic metres in 1999. However, for the import of plywood the total was increased from 15,605 cubic metres in 1990 to 138,714 cubic metres in 1999. The average local price of plywood (4 x 8 feet) in 1990 is RM11.50 for 4 mm thickness, RM18.15 for 6 mm thickness, RM26.95 for 9 mm thickness and RM33 for 12 mm thickness. In 1999 the average local price of plywood (4 x 8 feet) for 4 mm and 12 mm thickness was increase to RM13.21 for 4 mm thickness and RM34.51 for 12 mm thickness. For the plywood 6 mm and 9 mm thickness the price was decreased to RM16.75 for 6 mm thickness and RM25.08 for 9 mm thickness. Although the new raw material rubberwood had been used but it cannot support the production of plywood. Competitors from the other wood-based product like medium density fiberboard (MDF) and particleboard is the factors for the decreasing of this industry.