6. Existing wood based industries and their capacities

6.1.1. Stationary Saw mills

Currently, there are over 38 stationary sawmills which process wood from logs harvested from the high forests of the country, one plywood factory and six mobile sawmills, which operate in plantations. The mobile sawmills have an average annual production capacity of 45,000 cubic meters of sawn woods. They are introduced by SIDA for the conversion of thinning and logs from industrial plantations.

The wood based industries are dominated by old sawmills 30-40 years old, which utilise large logs from the indigenous forests. They are old and obsolete and need to be renovated or condemned. They are not capable of utilising logs from plantation forests. They are run by non-skilled workers. Most of the mills are designed to convert large indigenous sawlogs of the major commercial tree species. The machines are worn out so they affect the quality of the final product. The log intake per annum on average of sawmills ranges from 2500 to 3500 m ³. Recovery is estimated to average 55 %.

The physical conditions of the sawmills are extremely poor; machines are worn out beyond their economic life with poor wood production and finishing. Their management is below standard as they are staffed with unskilled technicians. Most government owned industries have been operating for a long time at a loss due to the product price regulations imposed by the government.

The saw mills are not equipped to handle logs from plantations since they are suited only to bigger diameter logs. Most of the sawmills have band saws with more than 25 years of establishment.

Forest based industrial development is insignificant and the capacity of the forest industries is very small annually decreasing, partly due to the depleting raw material base and partly to old and poorly maintained machinery with frequent breakdown.

6.1.2. Plywood factory

There are two plywood factories that have been operating since 1962 and 1969 respectively. They are owned by the government under the ministry of industry. They have the capacity to produce up to 2900 cubic meters of plywood per year with a recovery percentage of 35-40%. They are integrated with secondary processing plants that manufacture furniture and doors.

6.1.3. Particle board factory

There are two particle board factories which have been operating since 1970 with a combined output of 5600 cubic meters per year. They use Eucalyptus globulus as the main raw material. They are also integrated with saw milling and pre-fabricated housing.

6.1.4. Fibre board factory

The fibre board factory which is Government owned has been in operation since 1969. It produces both hard and soft board. It has a capacity to produce up to 4000 cubic meters of fibreboard.

6.1.5. Mobile Sawmills

There are six mobile sawmills for the conversion of thinnings and logs from plantations and natural forests. The machinery used are circular saws and were established in 1986. Both the breakdown and the re-sawing are done on circular saws with a maximum cut of 40 cm. The recovery percentage is reported to be 45-50%. There are also over 250 furniture and joinery factories, which are owned by the private sector.

6.1.6. Pulp and paper mills

There are two paper-producing factories, which use imported pulp and waste paper as raw materials. The mill produces some 9500mt per annum of different qualities of finished paper. They produce newsprint used mainly for the printing of newspapers, printing and writing paper, other paper and paperboard, household and sanitary paper and wrapping and packing paper and paper board.

In general, there has been no significant advance made in developing the technologies to achieve a higher recovery rate and improvement in product quality and diversifying the use of raw materials. The industries do not adjust to changes in the supply of raw materials such as the use of different tree species, smaller sized wood. There has been an increase in the use of mobile sawmills, which promoted the use of wood from plantations.