Tokyo Report: Revival of Forestry Industry Picks Up Pace

Tokyo, April 26 (Jiji Press)--Projects to revive forestry
operations in Japan are under way as timber imports are becoming more
unstable while forests are increasingly viewed as an important way to absorb
carbon dioxide.
Prices of home-grown timber in Japan peaked out around 1980 and
have continued to plunge, due to increases in low-priced imports. The
stumpage price of cedar, for example, has dropped to just one-seventh of its
peak.
Many forest owners therefore have abandoned forestry operations,
while those who continue have been producing timber without an accurate
gauge of likely demand.
As a result, the forestry industry in Japan has long failed to
realize stable supplies of timber.
In fiscal 2006, therefore, the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry
and Fisheries launched joint model projects with forestry cooperatives and
operators, timber producers and other concerns to produce timber after
securing sales outlets.
The projects help participants stabilize their forestry management
as they can sell contracted volumes of timber at set prices.
At present, 11 such projects are under way across Japan. In one of
them, forestry cooperatives and operators and timber producers in the
central Japan prefectures of Mie, Aichi and Gifu have cut production costs
by nearly 40 pct by introducing machinery and streamlining the transport of
felled trees.
Starting in fiscal 2010, sales of timber under the project are
expected to increase sharply while new plants of timber producers that
participate in the project will likely operate year-round.
Expectations are growing therefore that the forestry industry can
help to create jobs in rural areas.
The use of thinned wood as a biomass fuel is also growing. For
example, biomass power generation by burning coal with wood chips has
already started at six thermal power plants.
In October, Nippon Steel Corp. <5401> plans to begin biomass power
generation at its iron mill in Kamaishi, Iwate Prefecture, northeastern
Japan, by purchasing thinned wood from the local forestry cooperative, which
will use the proceeds for its forestry management.
A "new growth strategy" adopted by the government last December
calls for raising Japan's self-sufficiency in timber to at least 50 pct in
10 years from the current 24 pct. To clear the target, the Forestry Agency
will draw up a set of measures to promote the construction of roads for
forestry operations and modernize forestry management.
Forestry improvement projects are becoming more important also
because Russia, a key supplier of timber to Japan, has begun conserving its
natural resources. In addition, the international procurement of timber is
becoming more unstable due to price rises caused by increasing imports by
China.


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