Furniture-makers lament wood supply shortage

The Chamber of Furniture Industries of the Philippines (CFIP) has bewailed the worsening shortage of stocks of wood and timber products for the use by the nation’s 15,000 furniture-makers serving both the domestic and international markets.

The furniture-makers’ group said the government has stopped the wood supply chain first with the prolonged log ban and the continuing scarcity of wood despite the ban’s lifting.

CFIP chairman Nick de Lange said that wood supplies are fast dwindling, prices are rising and the furniture firms’ own inventories have virtually dried up, adding that "the industry has begun losing market opportunities."

"We call on government to undertake all necessary measures to ease the strain on the furniture industry," said de Lange.

The chamber estimates the total annual wood requirements of the furniture industry at 364,000 cubic meters.

Wood furniture, compose about 50 percent of total furniture exports, with the other half composed of those made of secondary forest products like buri, rattan, bamboo, as well as plastic, metal and iron.

Exports from furniture reached about $300 million last year while local sales is also pegged at the same amount. The industry employs around 1.8 million workers.

De Lange said that the government should immediately take two initial steps to remedy the situation: Allow timber harvests from private plantations; and finish the compliance checks on holders of logging-related permits.

He explained that timber harvests from private plantations should be allowed since these may be closely monitored by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) for strict compliance with relevant regulations and do not include forest lands.

De Lange added that the almost four-month long total ban should have been enough for the DENR to probe into the performance and compliance of all timber license agreement holders and other permit-grantees "to weed out and punish violators and let law-abiding wood suppliers get on with their business."

"We urge government to adopt a comprehensive policy of sustainable forest management that would include crystal-clear rules on inclusions and exclusions so that industrie like ours would be able to obtain wood and forest products," said de Lange.

"Right now, the situation is very vague. The government has no clear policy or clear rules which law-abiding citizens may follow," he added.