Myanma Timber Enterprise Department

The Myanma Timber Enterprise (MTE). Originally named State Timber Extraction Organization, was formed by the Union of Myanmar soon after the country attainted Independence in 1948. Before Independence,\ from 1945 end of the second World War to 1948, the forests were managed and controlled by the Timber Project Board constituted by the then post war government under Timber Project Order 1945 dated 15 August. During this period, harvesting and marketing of teak were done by the Teak Consortium. However, after Independence the President of the Union of Burma, under "State Timber Board Order, 1948" published in the Ministry of Agriculture and Forests Notification No.135, dated the 5th April 1948, constituted the state Timber Board with the order to take effect from 10th April 1948. In 1974, the State Timber Board was reorganized under the socialist economy and renamed Timber Corporation. Under this system the organization was enlarged and direct control of the functions of the four major departments viz. Extraction, Milling/Marketing of teak and export business were retained by the headquarters in Yangon. Then in 1989, with decentralization and the change to market oriented economy, the name of the organization was changed to Myanma Timber Enterprise and reformed again to be compatible with the new economics. In Myanmar, Forest Department and Myanma Timber Enterprise are the two Government Organizations responsible for Forestry sector activities within the Ministry of Environmental Conservation and Forestry. Forest Department is responsible for the conservation and management of the forest, while Myanma Timber Enterprise is concerned with the extraction, processing and marketing of the forest products principally.To enhance the new strategy of reducing the volume of log export and to promote the development of the down-stream processing, thus increasing the F.E income from the export of value-added wood products, the government and private sectors are encouraged to establish down-stream processing wood-based industries for the manufacture of value-added wood products. At present, under Myanma Timber Enterprise, it has five furniture factories, five plywood factories, two moulding factories and one flooring and moulding factory. As an initial move Myanma Timber Enterprise is inviting foreign investment in down- stream activities in wood-based industries and giving full support to the local private investor. Up to date, there are three joint venture companies, eleven 100% investment companies and forty-one small and medium private companies in the wood-based industries sector.Myanma Timber Enterprise is now establishing three wood-based industries zones. They are Wataya Wood-Based Industrial Zone at Shwepyitha township in Yangon, South Dagon Wood-Based Industrial Zone in Yangon, and Amarapura Wood-Based Industrial Zone in Mandalay.