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Analysis of Timber Supplier Selection and Domestic Timber Requirements of the Forest Products Industry in Taiwan

  • Date of declaration:2011-12-31
Yi-Chung Wang, Jiunn-Cheng Lin
Year
2011
Key Words
domestic timber, forest products industry, supplier selection criteria, timber self-sufficiency
Abstract
In this study, we used the supply selection criteria theory to formulate a questionnaire survey
to analyze issues of wood materials selection criteria and domestic wood demand within the
Taiwanese domestic forestry industry. The investigation surveyed 232 companies, and the results
showed that companies currently in the forest products industry are mainly small and mediumsized.
Only 26.29% of respondents within the past 3 yr had used at least some raw wood materials
from a domestic source, and the main reason for that was “there is an insufficient number of domestic
sources”, while the most important factor for companies in the supply of raw wood material
choice was “stable source of supply of wood and wood products,”. The proportion of respondents
who had used domestic wood in the past 3 yr was 59.32%, and they expected to increase the use of
domestic wood in the future. Among companies that had not used domestic wood in the past 3 yr,
66.67% said that they would not consider using domestic wood. The most practical way to increase
the demand for domestic wood would be to upgrade domestic timber self-sufficiency, while maintaining
a commitment to sustainable forest management. To increase the use of domestic timber
production, the number of domestic timber suppliers should be increased and the domestic wood
self-sufficiency rate should be upgraded, while maintaining a commitment to sustainable forest
management.