Y.B. Senator A. Kohilan Pillay, Deputy Minister of Plantation Industries and Commodities Malaysia visited Fibre And Biocomposite Development Centre (FIDEC) in Olak Lempit Banting, Selangor on 21 st April 2008. The visit was part of his familiarisation programme to various agencies under the Ministry, since his appointment in March 2008. He was welcomed by Dato' Mohd Nazuri bin Hashim Shah, Director-General of MTIB.

Dato' Mohd Nazuri bin Hashim Shah briefed the Deputy Minister on roles, functions and contributions of MTIB to the development of the wood-based sector. He also elaborated on the issues and challenges faced by the industry and its future direction. The Director-General of MTIB mentioned that the Malaysian timber industry has been a major source of foreign exchange earnings and continues to contribute significantly towards the nation's economic growth. In 2007, the forestry sector contributed about 1.5 % to the country's Gross Domestic Product (GDP). The timber industry currently provides employment opportunities to about 337,700 people.

The export performance of the timber sector has indeed been spectacular. In 1995, the timber industry was the highest export earner in the commodity sector at RM 13.5 bilion, surpassing petroleum and palm oil. In 2000, timber and timber products sector contributed RM 17.7 bilion in export earnings, making it second only to the electrical and electronic sectors. However, these was a slight decline in exports in 2001 due to global recession, but it rebounded in 2002 and 2003, registering RM 15.3 bilion and RM 16.6 bilion respectively. In 2004, the export of timber and timber products totalled RM 19.8 bilion and the export of timber and timber products reached RM 22.76 bilion in 2007.

The Malaysian timber industry, which was traditionally dominated by the primary processing sector, producing sawntimber, plywood and veneer, has expanded towards the manufacture of high value-added products such as mouldings, joinery and furniture, in tandem with global demand. However, being export-oriented, the timber industry is vulnerable to the dynamics of the international market environment. The industry which has flourished in the past through resource abundance and cheap labour, is now faced with mounting challenges of declining raw material supply, labour shortage, escalating production cost and fast rising competition from low cost producers.

During the one-hour briefing session, Dato' Mohd Nazuri informed the Deputy Minister that there are two new areas which have been entrusted by the Ministry to MTIB recently ie. fibre and biocomposite development programme and forest plantation programme. FIDEC was established by the Ministry and MTIB in September 2006. The main objectives establishment of FIDEC are; to facilitate R&D and commercialisation in the fibre and biocomposite industries; to establish vital linkages and smart partnership with the universities, research institutes and industries towards commercialization of R&D findings related to the fibre and biocomposite; to stimulate and enhance the utilisation of the fibre and biocomposite materials; and to coordinate in the overall development of the fibre and biocomposite industries.

In his briefing, Dato' Mohd Nazuri emphasised that biocomposite product needs to be further developed in this country as a long term strategy to develop the tremendous wealth of plant fibers that are currently under-utilised. Hence, intensive R&D to enhance the utilisation of the materials particularly by the timber sector is an important agenda of the Ministry and MTIB. It is well recognised that the timber industry is a significant contributor to the Malaysian economy. The declining supply of raw materials is causing concern and in this context, the natural fibre materials can be seen as a good alternative material for the industry to produce value-added biocomposite products. The industry is therefore encouraged to explore the potential of available resources for the production of new value-added products that will enhance the industry's growth, competitiveness and sustainability.

“MTIB through FIDEC is committed to exploiting a huge amount of natural fibre materials estimated at 9.83 million m 3 per annum, residues from the agriculture sectors such as oil palm amounting 46 million m 3 per year and coconut stems estimated at 2,300 tonnes per year”, stressed Dato' Mohd Nazuri. Malaysia produced more than 100 million tones of oil palm biomass annually in the form of oil palm trunks (OPT), oil palm fronds (OPF) and empty fruit bunch (EFB). These palm fibres have excellent physical and mechanical properties and can be used in producing palm-based composites for various end uses such as plywood, fibreboard, moulded particleboard, fibre-filled thermoplastic and thermoset composites and moulded paper products.

The Director-General mentioned that R&D efforts to produce high value-added products made of natural fibre is on-going for wider utilisation in the construction industry, for automotive parts and components, building materials and furniture manufacturing. The increasing consumption of natural fibre as a resource-based material for fibre reinforced plastic composite products is expected to increase in the future. Hence, further steps should be taken to advance the R&D and commercialisation activities.

While the timber processing industry is growing rapidly, timber production from the natural forests is not expected to increase as the country moves towards SFM practices. To address the timber supply situation, the Ministry and MTIB are embarking on a forest plantation development programme which involves the planting of fast growing plantation species on 375,000 hectares within a duration of 15 years or 25,000 hectares annually. Malaysian Rubberwood ( Hevea brasiliensis ) is one of the eight species identified for the forest plantation programme as it is widely used in the furniture and joinery sector and has carved a niche in the international markets.

Dato' Mohd Nazuri bin Hashim Shah also briefed the Deputy Minister on WISDEC's training activities and its future direction. He elaborated on the achievements of WISDEC as well as current challenges faced by the industry. He elaborated several areas concerning the role and function of WISDEC, in developing the necessary skills required in the wood-based industry, in a way to address the challenges faced by the industry.

During the visit, the Deputy Minister spent some time to view demonstrations of some of the machines at the FIDEC biocomposite processing area, testing laboratory, internal showroom, external showcase and modern timber and biocomposite house. The Deputy Minister also visited Wood Industry Skills Development Centre (WISDEC).