Plywood Industry of India and Export Prospects

The Sixth Five Year Plan placed high prioritv to export with a target of 5.2 per cent annual growth in gross domestic product. The role of the export in improving the balance of payments and as incentive to increase the production need no emphasis. The plywood industry has definite role to play to meet the challenge of Export front. The plywood export has emerged on export map of the World in 1961-62. The quantity exported in various years, fluctuated year to year with many mixima and maxima. The possible reasons attributed to such fluctuation are: (a) increased production cost due to short sUpply of ply logs of rigid specification; price of the glue many times more than internaltional price and antiquated machinery; (b) quality of the plywood and (C) non-adherence to delivery schedules. The report of the National Commission on Agriculture 1976 (part IX Forestry) Govt of India has prescribed certain measures such as to make available glue at international prices, to update the technology for reducing the losses and sophisticated m achinery to produce quality venners and to raise the export equal to domestic consumption by 1985. The plywood industry has great export potential as is evident from the fact that the share of plywood export to the total foreign trade in major forest produce during 1974-75 was 27.80 per cent. The present study has been taken up to forecast the domestic consumption, rate of growth of export, total production of plywood and necessary requirement of wood and installed capacity for the period 1981 to 1985.