Govt steps in to address shortage of rubber wood

JOHOR BARU: The government will ban the export of rubber wood effective July 1, said Datuk Seri Dr Wee Ka Siong.
The Minister in the Prime Minister's Department said that the decision was made following complaints by the furniture industry and exporters that they were facing a shortage.
He said the Cabinet made the decision before Hari Raya and with the ban, local furniture producers should have enough raw materials to produce value-added furniture.
Wee said the country exported some RM300 million in of raw rubber wood yearly to countries like Vietnam and China.
"We sell the raw materials to other countries to process and sell back to us. So by keeping the raw materials in our country, we are able to add value to our industry, address the material shortage and create more opportunities," he said after attending the Hari Raya open house at Pasir Gudang Stadium hosted by Johor Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Mohamed Khaled Nordin.
He said, there is no time limit on the ban.
The export ban come some three weeks after 234 furniture manufacturers in Muar held a demonstration calling on the government to step in and address the shortage issue.
Muar is the biggest furniture production center in the nation which produce about 63% of Malaysia's export furniture.