Indian consumers are accustomed to red colored face and back veneers, mostly imported gurjan, for the panel products. Plywood manufacturers depended on imports of gurjan from Myanmar since domestic sources of suitable Dipterocarpus timbers were insufficient to meet the requirements of the plywood sector, ITTO reported.
Now that Myanmar has banned log exports Indian manufacturers are facing a problem in securing peeler logs of a colour to satisfy consumer preferences.
There are two ways to overcome this problem; encourage consumers to accept domestic and imported timbers of another colour with properties similar to gurjan or identify alternative large sized, red coloured timbers suitable for peeling.
Trials have been conducted with okoume and sapelli and a measure of market acceptance has been reported. In addition some timbers from Malaysia, Papua and New Guinea and Solomon Islands have been found acceptable.
The timbers being assessed include amoora antiaris, calophyllum, campnosperma, erima, grey canarium, hoop pine, klinki pine, labula litsea, lophopetalum, mersawa, pink satinwood, red cedar, planchonella, silkwood, maple, silver ash and sloanea.
Currently alternatives to gurjan account for around 40% of the timbers used for peeling.
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