REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, JAKARTA -- The Ministry of Trade supports exporting processed products with added value, especially logs, to supply the demand for logs abroad, a deputy minister said.

"The Ministry of Trade consistently supports the policy of providing export commodities with added values. Logs have very small added values," Trade Deputy Minister Bayu Krisnamurthi said on Saturday.

He added that if logs were processed at home before they were exported, it would provide added value.

Bayu added that, in essence, the ministry of trade was consistent in supporting the exporting of products after they were processed at home, which would increase their value.

Last November, the Ministry of Forestry said it was ready to begin exporting logs in an effort to provide business for forest firms in the country.

Meanwhile, Forestry Minister Zulkifli Hasan said, after opening a working meeting of the Indonesian Forest Companies Association (APHI) recently, that he was intending to provide 'vitamins' for forest business players.

"You can formulate a policy that APHI needs. As far as it concerns the authority of the ministry of forestry, I will approve it," he said.

APHI officials said forest business conditions at present were at a low point.

Up through September 2013, HPH's logs production reached only 1.9 million cubic meters of the target 6.17 million m3, or only about 30.82 percent.

Therefore, the APHI has made a number of proposals to reinvigorate its performance, including lifting the ban on log exports.

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