N Sumatra's Wood Exports Up Again

North Sumatra’s wood and wooden products had been increasingly restored and reached 26.977 million US dollars until February 2011.
"While the increase had been relatively small, only 3.26 percent compared the value of last year’s same period, and the foreign exchange revenue dropped," Head of the North Sumatra central bureau of statistics (BPS) Erwin Said said here Wednesday.
The exports have started to increase in 2010, with a total foreign exchange revenue of 194.281 million US dollars from only 181.171 million US dollars in 2009. He said last year’s rise in North Sumatra’s exports of wood and wooden products was not only triggered by an increase in their prices, but also in their volume.
This year, the trend was similar in which the exports increased 4.2 percent from January’s 13.770 million US dollars. Head of exports of farm and mining products of the foreign trade division of the North Sumatra industrial and trade agency, Fitra Kurnia, said that he had the information from the exporters that demand for wood and wooden products had been increasing already in 2010.
But the increased demand caused a problem as the exporters said they had problems in obtaining the raw material. He also said that since the issue on the environment broke out especially with regard to illegal wooden, North Sumatra’s exports of wood and wooden products had dropped because both the exporters and importers became afraid of making transactions.