By Team Exec
TEAM Newsfeed
28 April 2023, Shah Alam, Selangor
TEAM held its 68th Annual General Meeting (AGM) in The Saujana Hotel Kuala Lumpur on 28 April 2023.
The members had a good interaction dialogue session with the Committee Members after the presentation of the President’s Report 2022. Several members who attended the event gave positive comments that the interactive environment was vibrant and it was a step forward from the previous AGMs.
Extract below were the notable discussions and announcements at the AGM.
TEAM’s Participation at the Annual Dialogue of TIF with The Forestry Department
The annual dialogue between the Malaysian Timber Industry Forum (TIF) with the Forestry Department was held on 7 March 2022. At the dialogue, it was mentioned that the total Annual Allowable Cut (Catuan Tebangan Tahunan, CTT) for the year was 37,710 Ha.
Mr Chua Song Fong, the President appreciated the effort of the Forestry Department in providing the industry with data on forestry.
Discussion on Importation of Western Red Cedar (WRC) Logs from Canada for Inbound Fumigation Treatment in Malaysia
The demand for raw timber supply has increased in line with market demand as well as the direction of the National Timber Industry Policy towards the direction of production of value-added/downstream products. There is a significant gap between the current supply of timber and domestic demand.
The industry suggested having trial shipments of untreated WRC sawn timber from Canada to be treated in Malaysia under inbound fumigation to reduce the costs of WRC sawn timber imports from Canada and to increase import volumes of wood to cover the shortage of material supply raw timber in the country.
It was urged that the Department of Agriculture (DoA) will be more receptive and to observe the practices of neighbouring countries, like Vietnam, Indonesia on importation.
Discussion on the Export of Wood Chips
TEAM believes in free trade. There was request from some sectors of timber industry to ban the export of wood chips to cater the supplies for domestic market consumption.
It was emphasized that all sectors should be given the freedom to trade and growing the businesses together will be definitely a better solution.
MTC Debriefing Session on EU Deforestation Regulation (EUDR)
An MTC-MTA delegation visited Belgium and The Netherlands from 3 to 9 September to present the perspective of the Malaysian Timber Industry on EUDR. Mr Chua commented that though the implementation of the regulations is seemingly inevitable, we (the Malaysian Timber Industry) had presented our position.
Mr Michael Hermens of APP Timber commented that there are little industry members can do to change the situation and we should start looking for ways to comply with the requirements.
The industry is looking forward to the assistance from the Government in preparation for compliance.
Announcement of Project: My D.R.E.A.M. Forest
Mr Chua presented the project of TEAM entitled “My Dedication to Reforestation Efforts in Areas of Malaysia (My D.R.E.A.M.)”
The project is aimed to restore degraded forest areas in Malaysia. Several engagements and site visits with the forestry department were made and the project location had been identified. TEAM’s vision is the convert the existing palm oil plantations back into forest land over a period of two decades.
After the dialogue session, all members were invited to a Get-Together dinner hosted by TEAM, for further business networking engagements.
