Private companies in Myanmar propose to cultivate more timber

YANGON, Jan. 11 (Chinese media) -- Local private companies in Myanmar have

proposed to the government to cultivate 81,000 hectares more of timber in two

division and state for the development of the sector, the Voice weekly reported

Sunday, quoting the Union of Myanmar Federation of Chambers of Commerce and

Industry.

Presented by the ATSO Green, Yeedagon, NRTC and Honda companies, a total of

48,600 hectares and 7,493 hectares will be respectively grown in Bago division

and Kachin state, the report said.

Permitted by the government, private companies had cultivated 810 hectares

of timber since 2005.

Meanwhile, Myanmar has been holding international wood log tender sale of

thousands of tons monthly since decades ago, tendered by dozens of local and

foreign timber companies.

Occasionally, the state enterprise cut the sale quota to enhance the export

of value-added finished products which are recommended as more profitable than

the log export.

Export of wood log is traditionally restricted in Myanmar and export of

teak log by the private sector was banned since 1992 when the government enacted

the Forest Law.

According to official statistics, Myanmar exported 399,596 cubic-meters of

teak and 1.12 million cubic-meters of hardwood in the fiscal year of 2007-08,

gaining a total of 538 million U.S. dollars of foreign exchange.

During the year, timber stood as the country's fourth largest export goods

after natural gas, agricultural produces and mineral products.

Myanmar is rich in forest resources with forest covering about 50 percent

of its total land area.