Panels & Furniture Asia September/October 2020

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ADVERTORIAL September / October 2020, Issue 5 | Panels & Furniture Asia TAKING THE GABON SPECIAL ECONOMIC ZONE TO GREATER HEIGHTS Kumar Mohan The Gabon Special Economic Zone (SEZ) is the fruit of a shared vision of the Gabonese government and Olam International Limited and seeks to facilitate the industrialisation of Gabon. Spanning 1,126 hecatres in Nkok, approximately 20 kilometres from Gabon’s capital city Libreville, Gabon SEZ is one of the biggest industrial parks in Sub-Saharan Africa aimed at promoting the sustainable production and processing of timber and other natural resources. Panels & Furniture Asia had the opportunity to find out from Kumar Mohan, Director General, Gabon SEZ, insights on the current successes of the SEZ, as well as upcoming milestones and plans. Firstly, congratulations on the success of Nkok SEZ! We understand that out of the 166 companies based there, around 88 units are in the wood processing sector. Is there any concern about more wood processing units establishing their bases at Nkok SEZ, given that they would be dependent on one single raw material (eg, timber)? Thank you so much. As of time of writing, the total capacity of wood-processing units in Nkok SEZ is around 1 million cubic metres and these units are currently operating at 70% capacity. Up to 3.4 million cubic metres of logs can be easily harvested in Gabon under sustainable forest management rules against its current production of 1.7 million cubic metres. Gabon SEZ has forest concessions of more than 2 million hectares that we are not yet harvesting currently, as a lot of raw material is available from other forest concessions. Moreover, the species and grade of timber logs required by veneer units, sawmills, furniture manufacturers and flooring companies are different, so they are not competing with each other for the raw material.
September / October 2020, Issue 5 | Panels & Furniture Asia IN PERSON | 25 A log yard spanning over 32 hectares ensures a year-long availability of logs even during the rainy seasons The first set of investors in our Gabon SEZ ecosystem are more into first and second transformation of timber and therefore, our upcoming five-year strategy is as follows: a) Attract industries that are more focused in third transformation either using panels produced in Gabon SEZ or exotic hardwood available in Gabonese forests. b) Attract investors who will focus on utilising plantation timber as raw material, as we are currently developing big timber plantations which will see a huge availability of plantation timber at a very competitive price. c) Attract additional wood processing units so that the installed capacity in Gabon SEZ can rise to 2 million cubic metres annually. Therefore, there is a lot of scope for additional manufacturers in all segments of timber transformation. There’s no doubt that cheap raw material (eg, timber) is available in Gabon. However, given that infrastructure and logistics have been a challenge in most African countries, how does Nkok SEZ ensure that the units will not face a shortage of raw materials? The development of an SEZ at Nkok is aimed at creating a sustainable ecosystem for processing of natural resources, primarily timber, in Gabon. When Nkok SEZ was started, Gabon did not have the infrastructure to facilitate the logistics from the forest and the quick evacuation of finished products from Gabon. Gabon SEZ has successfully invested more than US$300 million in developing the new modernised port, railway and truck logistics system to bring raw materials from the interiors of the forest to Nkok SEZ. However, we accept that the logistical cost is slightly higher compared to our competitors. However, as export volumes are increasing, the government and port agencies are more willing to rationalise the port charges. We are quite convinced that in a year or two, these prices will be very competitive. We understand that Gabon SEZ is also operating a log supply chain and sourcing for logs from third parties to ensure constant supply. Are there any plans to ensure the easy availability of logs around the year – especially during the rainy seasons – and at a fair price? Gabon’s rainy season extends from March to April and from October to mid-December, and the availability of logs goes down slightly during these periods since logs harvested in the forest cannot be evacuated during heavy rain. To ensure year-long availability of logs including during the rainy seasons, Gabon SEZ has developed a well-equipped log yard at the railway siding within the SEZ and near to the factories. Spanning over 32 hectares, with a storage capacity of 300,000 cubic metres of logs, this log yard will allow the handling of 2 million cubic metres of logs per annum and ensure steady supply round the year. Additionally, we have six log yards in interiors of the country where we stock logs from nearby forests before transporting them to Nkok SEZ. We have also invested in 100 log trucks and 130 log wagons to ensure the easy and continuous availability of logs all year round. Logs prices are fixed annually and there is no variation throughout the year.
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Page 6: Contents September / October 2020
Page 10 and 11: 8 | NEWS September / October 2020,
Page 22 and 23: 20 | MARKET REPORT September / Octo
Page 24 and 25: 22 | IN PERSON September / October
Page 28 and 29: 26 | IN PERSON September / October
Page 30 and 31: 28 | PRODUCT HIGHLIGHT September /
Page 32 and 33: 30 | PANEL MANUFACTURING September
Page 38 and 39: 36 | FURNITURE MANUFACTURING Septem
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Page 43 and 44: September / October 2020, Issue 5 |
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Page 48 and 49: 46 | MATERIALS September / October
Page 50 and 51: 48 | MATERIALS September / October
Page 52 and 53: 50 | FLOORING September / October 2
Page 54 and 55: 52 | FLOORING September / October 2
Page 56 and 57: 54 | DESIGN September / October 202
Page 58 and 59: 56 | DESIGN September / October 202
Page 60 and 61: 58 | STRUCTURAL ELEMENTS September
Page 62 and 63: 60 | STRUCTURAL ELEMENTS September
Page 64 and 65: 62 | WOOD CLINIC September / Octobe
Page 66 and 67: 64 | WOOD CLINIC September / Octobe
Page 68 and 69: NEWSLETTER SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2020 T
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Page 72 and 73: Events Calendar 2021 September / Oc

Panels & Furniture Asia September/October 2020

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