Asia's new woods

Plantations of agricultural and industrial crops, such as rubber, coconut, bamboo, and oil palm, are providing important new "wood" sources for forest industries in Asia. Several of these new woods are becoming mainstream species in the manufacture of traditional forest products and in the production of innovative product lines in Asia. The estimated 27.4 million hectares of these crops in the region constitute an enormous resource that is still largely untapped. Technological improvements are permitting the use of previously wasted materials into plywood, particleboard, paper, and even lumber and furniture. The acceleration in rubberwood processing during the past decade is indicative of the potential importance that other crops may soon assume in Asian markets.