Cambodia Feeding China's Expanding Demand for Wood Pulp

After decades of war, Cambodia is one of the world's poorest nations, its economy and its political life are still suffering from the civil war that racked the country during the latter part of the 20th century. Rice and rubber were traditionally the principal exports of Cambodia, but exports fell sharply after the onset of the civil War, which put most of the rubber plantations out of operation. By the 1990s, however, rubber plantings had been undertaken as part of a national recovery program, and rubber and rice were again being exported. The fishing industry has also somehow been revived, but some food shortages continue. From this period, the largest source of export income has been timber, until the Cambodian government set up a log export ban in 1995. With a rather limited national environment supporting the development of an internationally competitive wood processing industry, this industry sector has not benefited from this ban. Wood material exports have continued under a limited processed form, i.e. squared logs and thick boards. Up to now, no development of any wood pulp or chipping industry has been impossible in Cambodia. Additionally, in 2002, any logging activity has been suspended for any forest companies, until the approval of their new forest concessions. Some forest companies which had old logs (harvested before 2001) were still authorized to process them. Further, in 2003, a large portion of the territory (about 24%) was declared as protected area. The industrial growth of the country is now mainly sustained by the garment and tourism sectors. But until now, inadequate transportation hampers the development of national industries, except in some development pockets. This poor transportation is a major impediment for the development of pulp wood plantations or pulp and chipping industries in Cambodia.