By Sai Silp
A recent report that the Thai government has inked a timber deal with Burma has left many Thai businesspeople wondering how the agreement will benefit the country.


Suthin Pornchaisuri, vice-president of the Thai Parawood Association based in Songkla province in southern Thailand, said that the agreement would give the Thai timber industry more choices.

He added that the cost of transportation from Burma would also drive up timber prices, and supplies from Burma may not be enough to offset Thailand’s shortage of timber for commercial production.

Suthin was responding to a report by the Thai News Agency on Sunday that the government—according to Noppadon Pattama, vice minister of natural resources and environment—is preparing to sign a timber contract with the Burmese government and will survey about one million rai (nearly 160,000 hectares) of rubber plantations.

“Parawood [rubber wood] processing must be done within three days of cutting down the timber because of its sensitivity to mod,” said Suthin. “On top of that, Burmese government policies are always subject to changes that could affect trade at any time.”

He added that there was no real shortage of parawood in Thailand. Rather, farmers preferred to extract as much of the rubber sap as possible—the price of which has risen considerably in recent months—before harvesting the trees for timber.
 
An official from the Forest Industry Organization said that the expected agreement will be the subject of talks this month between Noppadon and Burmese officials.

A large supply of Burmese rubber trees—25 years or older—according to the FIO official, is ready for logging. Most of the Burmese plantations are near the Thailand borders in Mae Hong Son and Ranong provinces and throughout Karen and Mon states.

According to the TPA, trade in exported parawood products in 2012 reached nearly 8 billion baht (nearly US $217 million), while exports of parawood furniture in the same period were valued at 18 billion baht ($487 million).

Timber imports from Burma were stopped in 1997 after it was discovered that trees felled in Thailand’s Salween National Park were being smuggled into Burma and then exported back to Thailand.

Burmese officials in August allowed Thai traders to import small allotments of timber from Shan State across the Mae Sai border checkpoint into Thailand. Logging in Burma has drawn criticism from environmental activists who fear that the unchecked trade in timber from Burma has led to deforestation in the country.