Stakeholders in New Zealand have accused Malaysian timber giant Samling of boycotting local efforts to build up a wood-processing industry.
Samling Global Limited is the parent company of Barama Company Limited which is the holder of the largest forest concession in Guyana. Barama was granted a lowland, mixed tropical forest concession for approximately 1.6 million hectares in the Northwest region of Guyana and has been here since 1991. It is currently seeking a renewal of its operations agreement which expires in October this year.
The company has also been accused of exporting large quantities of logs from Guyana and its plywood production has fallen in recent times.
In 2010, Samling was cited for “extensive and repeated breaches” here and in Malaysia, resulting in its exclusion from Norway’s state pension fund, one of the world’s largest sovereign wealth funds. However, Barama had rejected the report about its activities here and Norway’s Ministry of Finance subsequently said that the concerns about Barama’s activities in Guyana relate primarily to past events.
In a recent statement related to the case in New Zealand,
