PRODUCTION AND MARKETING OF PLYWOOD IN THAILAND

Abstract

The objectives of the study were to determine the production and marketing of plywood in Thailand. The results of the study indicated that there were 21 plywood mills in 2000. There are 3 kinds of raw materials being used for plywood production namely, veneer logs, veneers and glues. During the 5 years period (1996 - 2000) revealed that the highest and lowest amount of veneer logs using for plywood productions were 562,791 m³ in 2000 and 400,238 m³ in 1997, respectively. While the highest and lowest volume of veneers were 6,101 m³ in 1998 and 2,594 m³ in 2000, respectively. In addition, the highest and lowest volume of glues were 20,005 ton in 2000 and 14,961 ton in 1997, respectively. Plywood production problems faced by the producers could be categories into 5 topics 1) lack of raw material, 2) lack of labor, 3) machinery maintenance, 4) high production cost and 5) official regulation. The marketing channel of plywood showed that the producers distribute their most products directly to the distributors (wholesalers or retailers who have purchase plywood from producers by contract basis). About 90.38 percent of the total plywood production for domestic consumption and the rest of about 9.62 percent for foreign market. The marketing problems faced by the plywood producers had 4 topics 1) price of imported plywood was lower than the price of local plywood, 2) customer slow payment, 3) predatory price-cutting and 4) market limitation.