STIDC hopes to develop products based on bamboo, Glulam wood

The Sarawak Timber Industry Development Corporation (STIDC) is seeking to develop products based on bamboo and glued laminated wood (Glulam wood) in its efforts to help realise its efforts to achieve an export target of RM8 billion by 2030.

STIDC general manager Datu Hashim Bojet said there are high estimates of the potential climate change mitigation opportunity of using wood products, and Sarawak definitely has the right tools to produce such products.

“Nowadays, everyone is talking about climate change mitigation. We believe that there will be more demand for wood products in various sectors around the world as we speak,” he told reporters yesterday.

Among the things which STIDC will look into in the near future is finding ways to produce bicycles of its own made out of bamboo and building construction materials made of Glulam wood, he added.

Hashim disclosed that he along with his team from STIDC had travelled abroad recently to study how such products could be made in Sarawak and following the trip, he is looking forward to see Sarawak has its own products made from bamboo and Glulam wood.

“While in Brisbane, Australia my team and I had visited a building made almost entirely of Glulam wood and we were fascinated by that while a company from Shanghai, China has recently struck a cooperation deal with us to make bicycles made almost entirely of bamboo.

“If we can become suppliers to the demand for products made from bamboo and Glulam wood, I believe that can help us achieve our target of RM8 billion by 2030,” he said.

STIDC plans to create a factory in Bintulu should it be tasked to create Glulam wood-based building construction materials in the future.

Glulam wood is a structural material manufactured through the union of individual wood segments.

When glued with industrial adhesives (usually Melamine or Polyurethane resin adhesives), this type of wood is highly durable and moisture resistant, capable of generating large pieces and unique shapes.

Meanwhile, Hashim also commented that the state might see a building structure made almost entirely of Glulam wood-based construction materials for the first time ever very soon.

He said using construction materials made from Glulam wood is the way buildings will be made in the future if the world community is seeking to find alternatives for climate change mitigation.

“Sarawak has a huge potential in producing wood products for climate change mitigation and here at STIDC we believe that as long as we continue to plant more trees and do research, we will never be short of supplies for such materials,” he added.

On bamboo-based products, he said that STIDC had recognised the importance of the bamboo-based products industry as well; hence research on the potentials of bamboo as a product is continuously being done together with renowned researchers and institutions.

“We want to produce value-added products based on bamboo as well because that can also help us achieve our export target,” he said.

Among the bamboo-based products which STIDC is set to produce in the near future are bicycles which are made almost entirely of bamboo which might be showcased to members of the public in August this year.

STIDC aspires to achieve an export target of RM8 billion by 2030, which is in line with the state’s Post Covid-19 Development Strategy 2030.

One of the ways which the corporation intends to achieve such target is by creating two furniture parks in the state, located namely at Demak Laut in Kuching and Tanjung Manis near Sarikei.

“We are aiming for not less than RM4 billion in contribution in our export targets from the furniture industry, from these two parks. They will also be opened soon,” he said.

Before speaking to reporters, Hashim launched the STIDC’s Ibadah Qurban programme at the STIDC Furniture Industry Complex here, in conjunction with the Hari Raya Aidiladha this year.

A total of seven head of cattle were slaughtered for the event. The sacrificial meat was distributed to 250 asnaf recipients from various villages around Samarahan and Kuching divisions.

Source: Matthew Umpang | Borneo Post Online