Sales of Malaysian-based company APP Timber were robust in 2007, leading to a 15% increase compared to the previous year, Michael Hermens, managing director of APP Timber, said in a recent interview. He cautioned, however, that this volume increase did not lead to any serious growth of the trading volume value which went up by only one million US dollars to 23 million US dollars in 2007.
“These figures are the result of a weakening buyers’ market of products made in Asia,” said Michael Hermens, adding that “manufacturers are sourcing for lower cost raw materials”.
Within the furniture segment, APP Timber recorded good growth for the lower grade species such as pine, oak and yellow poplar whereas higher valued species such as hard maple, cherry and walnut continued to sell less. The demand in the flooring industry picked up and many manufacturers have shown increased interest in dimensions (being fixed widths and optionally fixed lengths). The door industry was fairly stable but many SE Asian suppliers are complaining about the low priced products still being offered from China.
Michael Hermens forecast a difficult year ahead but is optimistic that APP Timber can handle this year’s challenges.
APP Timber is based near Kuala Lumpur and it currently has warehousing facilities in Malaysia and Vietnam, but it is planning to open more in Indonesia and Thailand during the current year. |
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