U.S. Becomes Fourth Largest Export Market for Sarawak Plywood

Japan has long been the number one export market for Sarawak plywood, produced in Kuching, Sarawak, Malaysia. However, demand in Japan has been weakened by depressed prices due to stiff competition from Indonesian suppliers and Japanese produced softwood plywood. The U.S. is now the fourth largest export market for Sarawak plywood, moving up from the twelfth spot in 2019 and sixth place in 2020. Yemen and Taiwan are the second and third largest buyers of Sarawak plywood. In the first six months of 2021, the US paid about RM49.8mil (free on-board value) in importing 21,043 cubic meters (cu m) of plywood from Sarawak, out of which nearly half or RM24.8mil (9,238 cu m) was recorded alone in June.