FIPPI (Federation of Indian Plywood and Panel Industries requested to Ministry of Commerce & Industry to constitute a Development Council under section 6 of Industries (Development & Regulation) Act 1951 for Plywood and Panel Industries to ensure convergence of all sectorial and inter-ministerial assistance. The letter submitted by Mr Sajjan Bhajanka, President, FIPPI to Minister of Commerce & Industry, Mr Pyush Goyal says that it is now realized that plywood and panel industry should have an institutional forum where government and industries can discuss their issues for speedy development of the sector.
Mr Sajan Bhajanka said, "We have been flagging issues to the appropriate government platform but expected results have not been achieved due to lack of intuitional mechanism. He suggested that DPIIT may constitute a ‘Development Council’ for Plywood and Panel Industries as it has been done for the Pulp and Paper industry in recent past to function as a nodal agency to ensure convergence of all sectorial and inter-ministerial assistance.
According to the letter submitted to the ministries, Indian Plywood & Panel Industry, almost 92% of the total wood used as raw materials by these industries is sourced from Trees Outside Forest / Agroforestry farm land. An estimated 10 lakhs farmers are engaged in TOF plantations for supply of raw material to Plywood, Paper and wooden Panel industries.
To sustain this Agro-Forestry drive in India, the Government has to make sure that enough processing industries viz. veneering, sawmilling, Plywood, MDF & Particle board are set up in the country, so that the increased supply of such short duration timber is sustained, integrated to industries and will enable farmers to get the remunerative prices for their produce. In addition, it will help India to achieve Sustainable development goals (SDGs) such as ensuring livelihood security of rural communities, increase in farmer's income and an increase in the GDP of our country by increasing tree/vegetation cover. This will also help to achieving our international commitments for climate change mitigation & adaptation, and increase carbon sequestration.
The demand for the wood panel products is growing at the rate of 10-12 percent due to rapid urbanization- nearly 33% settled in urban area coupled with steady growth In India's per capita GDP, infrastructural development as highlighted in union budget, government's initiative to have housing for all by 2022, other govt. programs such as developing 100 smart cities and also due to removal of the ban on use of timber in construction by CPWD on the advice of MOEF&CC. This will create an additional timber requirement of nearly 38 million CBM over 5 years in the country.
The letter also suggested that from a Net Importer, China has now become the Largest Exporter of these products worldwide. Today China boasts of 75% of World's Plywood production, 43% of World's MDF Production and 27% of World's PB Production. In 2009, China was producing 59 million CBM of Plywood, which in 2018 had crossed 195 million CBM - an increase of 229%. Similarly, China's production of Particle Board in 2009 was 14 million CBM, which in 2018 had crossed 33 million CBM- an increase of 134%. And China's production of MDF which was 33 million CBM in 2009, had become almost 50 million CBM in 2018 - an increase of 50%.
As against that, India produces a meagre 4% of World's Plywood. And its share in the production of PB and MDF are not even worth mentioning — less than 1% of World's production. The land mass of China is almost 3 times more than India and so people assume China will have more area for plantations. However, if you see the topography of China, almost 60 - 65% of its land mass is snow bound and / or non-cultivable, leaving hardly any difference in the area available for cultivation in China and India.
The prime reason China has been able to exponentially grow its wood-based manufacturing has been due to its ability to scale-up forest plantations which has been enabled by progressive policies at the right time. As a result of this China now has the largest plantation area in the world, principally of fast-growing species.