While Forest Department places its emphasis on protection. conservation and sustainable  management of forest resources,  Myanma Timber Enterprise (MTE) is  an organization responsible for timber  industry, including harvesting,  processing and marketing.

Timber Harvesting

Selection felling on silvicultural  grounds and within the bounds of  AACs, and the use of elephants for  skidding are the  traditional and  consistent practices in timber  harvesting in Myanmar. National code  of practices for forest harvesting has  been developed and adopted.  Trucking, use of railways and floating  down the water courses in rafts are the  transportation means of logs from log  landings to depots or sawmills.

Sawmilling and Processing

There are 91 State-owned sawmills, and 459 sawmills of small to medium  capacities, 1,224 recutting mills and some  487 domestic industrial mills, all privately  owned are also in existence. Domestic  industrial mills ( DI Mills) are those  producing furniture and other semi-finished  products. Moreover, MTE has at present  6 plywood factories and 10 furniture and  moulding factories, production of which  are export-oriented. Out of 91 State-owned  sawmills, 10 are run for export products. The wood industry is characterized by  obsolute sawmills although some modern  mills have been installed. As a result, the  existing sawmills and plywood factories could absorb only about 34% of the AACs, leading to the export being mostly in the log form. Export of timber comprises  85% in the log form, 12% as sawn timber  and only about 3% as value-added  products.

Of six plywood factories, four  are run by MTE and one is being operated  by a joint venture set up by Daewoo, Sam  Won and Myanma Timber Enterprise. The  other one is privately owned.

In addition to export earnings made by MTE, the private sector has increasingly been involved in exporting finished and semi-finished forest products since the early 1 990s. While only MTE can export both teak and non-teak hardwoods in the form of log or  rough sawn timber, the private sector can  purchase teak as raw material from MTE and export the finished products. The private sector can also export non-teak hardwoods, but in the value-added form.