Future prices for Malaysian timber products look bleak except for an expected pick-up in plywood demand from Japan, according to industry experts.
Housing demand in Japan is expected to recover in September as a stimulus package for house buyers starts to kick in says Datuk Wong Kuo Hea, managing director of timber and plantation group Ta Ann Holdings Bhd.
Recently, plywood makers from three countries – Indonesia, Malaysia and Japan – had a meeting and agreed to try to sustain their prices.
“So the price of plywood has reached a bottom, (but) unfortunately consumption is going down for the foreseeable. Therefore, the price should be flat,said Mr Wong.
The International Timber Trade Organisation (ITTO), it its latest market report says prices of Malaysian timber products “are not expected to holddue to the weakening domestic residential and commercial property industry
However ITTO is currently seeing a bottoming out of prices in Japan, a key importing market for Malaysian timber products
