Republika, Solo – The Indonesian Lightwood Association (ILWA) stated that the export market for wood commodities began to increase in line with the global economy. General ILWA Setyo Wisnu Broto in Solo, Tuesday (2/11).
He said that at the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic, the demand for wood from the export market decreased by almost 70 percent compared to the beginning before the pandemic. US dollars per year. Currently, we are aiming for 250-300 million US dollars,” he said.
In fact, he said, the demand for plywood products from the United States is currently very large. In addition, the European market also began to increase.
However, he said, currently export players are facing obstacles, namely the scarcity of containers for shipping light wood to a number of countries. Therefore, one solution is to no longer use containers for shipping, but for the goods to be directly loaded onto the ship.
“The goods are put into the ship and then transported. It is indeed cheaper in terms of cost, but not all countries have accepted the concept,” he said.
He said that so far only one country has accepted shipments of goods without containers, namely the United States, considering that this country requires a large number of products so it cannot wait until there are enough containers.
Related to this, the Coordinator of the American and European Regions of the Directorate General of Export Development Cooperation of the Indonesian Ministry of Trade Singgih Sugiyanto at the 6th Indonesian Lightwood Cooperation Forum (ILCF) event at the Novotel Hotel Solo, Monday (1/11) night confirmed the container scarcity phenomenon.
In fact, he said, the scarcity of containers does not only occur in Indonesia but also in other countries. One of the causes of the shortage is the limited number of workers in the sector.
“Earlier there were 100 people who could unload and load, but due to restrictions during this pandemic, only 50 percent were working. This hindered the loading and unloading process of containers,” he said.
However, he appreciated the solution of exporters by sending goods without containers.
