Indonesia’s timber industry facing forest fires and the Asian 1997 to 1998 economical crisis

In 1997 and 1998, Indonesia's timber industry has been striken by forest fires and the economical crisis in Asia. With the collapse of Asian's construction industries, the major activities of wood processing industries (MDF, plywood) experience a decrease in demand. As far as the pulp production is concerned, it suffers from damages on the plantations of fast growing tree species. The free export of logs (since the beginning of 1998), provided to increase foreign exchange income, as well as exports of other raw materials, will probably lead to an irreversible decline of forest land. The destruction of the Indonesian forests will thereby jeopardize the whole Indonesian timber industry. At the moment, it seems that only international subsidies for the wood processing industry can guarantee an efficient timber production based on a sustained forest management.