15 January 2013: The International Tropical Timber Organization (ITTO) has re-launched the Tropical Timber Market (TTM) Report, after a 12 month break due to a lack of funding. The first issue under the new launch highlights stories on the timber sector in Ghana, the new industry minimum wage in Malaysia, a planned log export ban in Myanmar, issues on the plywood market in Europe, Japan and the US and the projected expansion of the furniture sector in Brazil. The Report further explores progress on legality verification systems in China and Indonesia.
In addition to the headline stories, the publication contains tropical timber market reports from Brazil, China, Ghana, Guyana, India, Indonesia, Japan Malaysia, Myanmar and Peru. The report also recounts regional tropical timber market statistics from Central and West Africa, Europe and North America.
The TTM Report is published through the ITTO Market Information Service (MIS) with the aim of improving transparency in the international tropical timber market. ITTO plans to publish a new report every two weeks, in addition to gradually publishing reports from 2012 to fill in the service gap. [Publication: Tropical Timber Market Report – Volume 17 Number 1 1st – 15 January 2013]