TPAZ calls on govt to allow exportation of certain wood species

Timber

Timber Producers Association of Zambia (TPAZ) has called on government to amend the Statutory Instrument No.94 of 2015 to allow the exportation of certain wood species as pillars.

TPAZ Vice President Charles Masange says government should allow the exportation of five species to be exported as polls so that the country can earn some foreign exchange.

Mr. Masange says government through the Ministry of Lands should allow the exportation of species such as Umubanga, Indale, Akalongwe, Mukula and Blackwood which he says are marketable on the international market.

He also argues that the regulation that some species should be shaped in four corners before exported is misplaced as they are weighed saying the country is loosing money through this process.

He says because of the tedious regulations, some timber producers are smuggling wood and thus the need for government to come up with favorable regulations that will allow the free flow of business in the wood sector.