As in 2021, Gabon plans to increase the production of sawn timber (cut into pieces) during this year 2022. According to projections by the Ministry of the Economy, the country expects to produce 1.17 million m3 of cut wood in 2022, a projected increase of 3.2 percent.

The growth in the timber industries, explains the Ministry, would be linked to the increase in local and international demand, and the ramping up of new factories as part of the acceleration of the policy aimed at the transition of the activity towards 2nd and 3rd transformation. In addition, the authorities are forecasting a consolidation of business activity in the Nkok Economic Zone, where timber processing should accelerate.

However, this upward projection for 2022 and even 2023 and 2024 (1.31 million m3) comes in a context where, after having expected an upward trend in 2021, the production of cut wood has not been what was expected. The government was already counting on a production of 1.17 million m3 during the previous year, but the country's objectives were not achieved, in connection with the slowdown in activity due to Covid-19 and the difficulties in supplying logs to the factories installed in the Nkok zone.

Source : Le Nouveau Gabon