Timber headline displays rare positive

Dear Editor,

I refer to the article captioned ‘Timber exports down over US$8M in 2015’ published in your February 12, 2016 Business supplement. While alarming, this headline betrays a rare positive that can be observed despite a retraction in any industry. The value of the decrease in round log exports (-US$3.78M) represents almost 50% of the total industry deficit compared to 2014. Hopefully, this can be attributed to the beginning of a long-term shift in the national policy whereby the Asian log barons are no longer free to export all the unprocessed logs they desire for a pittance.

Considering that a Greenheart tree, for example, will outlive two to three entire Guyanese generations before attaining maturity and merchantable diameter, if we cannot add value in-country to these logs, they should be left standing for the generation(s) that can.

Contrasting the log export figures to the export figures for Wallaba shingles (referred to as “splitwood” by the FPDMC) highlights the fact that producers were able to generate over five times the return per cubic metre with the manufactured product. In fact, Guyana’s shingles generated higher total forex earnings from about half the volume exported compared even to manufactured plywood from Barama.

Yours faithfully,
George Bulkan