Rubber

Compared to the vast extents of rubber plantations in Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, India and China, Sri Lanka is now left with only around 114,000 hectares (Ha). Ironically this is a dramatic drop from the 165,000 Ha level in year 2000. Labour shortages and low prices for latex were attributed to poor economic returns during 2000 – 2005. Large extents of the plantation were converted to oil palm and tea. This trend has now reversed as the price of latex has more than doubled. The rubber tree has a maximum life span of 30 – 35 years. In order to ensure continuity of the plantation cover, usually a country-wide average of 3% of the plantation is annually uprooted and replanted.

This is the industry norm. Depletion during 2000 – 2005 by 51,000 Ha (31%) was possible only because there was one large consumer for the felled trees. During this period less mature, good latex yielding trees too were cut down. Now the latex prices are high, and not much mature trees are available for uprooting. It has been estimated that only around 2% of the acreage is felled annually.

There were well established industries in the fields of flooring, industrial brushes, wooden toys and furniture which consumed exclusively rubber wood. Most of these industries are either fully closed down today or operating at levels far below their installed capacity simply because adequate quantities of rubber logs are not available.

The leading flooring company in Sri Lanka consumed around 20,000 cbm (cubic metres) of rubber logs annually generating direct employment to nearly 600 people.

Similarly, another brush block manufacturing company in Attanagalle consumed a like amount employing around 600 people. Still there are a few companies engaged in the manufacture of added value rubber wood products mainly for export. The available quantity of saw logs is only 96,900 cbm per year. Perhaps the five largest companies in Sri Lanka in flooring and industrial brush export have installed capacity to consume even more than this available quantity of saw logs. Flooring and brush industry generate one direct employment opportunity to every 30 cbm consumed annually.

Toys and furniture industries offer one employment opportunity to every 20 cbm consumed annually. Apart from such direct employment, many people are employed in the saw milling, chemical and kiln processing which supplies lumber to the other industries. These primary industries offer one employment to every 100 cbm of saw logs consumed annually.

In comparison, the process of MDF board (MDF - Medium Density Fibre) manufacture is very sophisticated and highly mechanized. An industrial plant with installed capacity of 100,000 tons of MDF board (or around 138,000 cbm) per year needs around 276,000 cbm of saw logs of rubber wood.

The difference between the required 276,000 and available 96,900 cbm (179,100 cbm) is supplemented by the use of rubber wood branches of over 3” diameter and whatever other types of trees available. Also, the entire MDF factory can be operated with a work force of 150 people. The industry norm is less.

This means one employment opportunity is generated for every 1,840 cbm consumed annually.

There are over 100 small, medium and large rubber-wood based industries already operating in Sri Lanka. They make over 100 different efforts to procure the total requirement of 96,900 cbm of saw logs per year. 

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Teak

Teak is popular all over the world due to its high quality timber with remarkable physical and mechanical properties. This is a light demanding species with large deciduous leaves. Harvesting can be started since 15-20 years for intermediate sizes. Mature timber can be obtained between 30-45 years depending on the site quality.

Teak was introduced to Sri Lanka in 17th century by Dutch. It was widely planted in dry and intermediate zones after 1950s. Although 45,335 ha of land have been utilized by the Forest Department for teak plantations, the effectively managed area might be less due to constraints such as wild elephants, illicit felling and encroachment. Although the most prominent type of teak plantations are monocultures, there are some mixtures such as with eucalypts and mahogany.

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Mahogany

Mahogany is a large deciduous tree with an umbrella-shaped crown, frequently reaching height of over 30m and diameter at breast height of over 1.5m. This species is able to tolerate a wide range of environmental conditions.

Like teak, mahogany too have a long history in Sri Lanka. In 1840, mahogany was first planted in Sri Lanka in Jaffna as an avenue tree. At present about 4,500 ha of mahogany were maintained by the Forest Department mainly in the intermediate zone and low country wet zone in Sri Lanka. Realising the timber value of mahogany, recently private sectors has also started creating mahogany plantations at commercial level.

Most of the mahogany plantations established by the government become semi-natural forests due to the ignorance of management activities. The reason was that those plantations were established with other species such as jak which is not recommended for felling and the possible environmental problems that can be arisen due to felling.

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Pine Wood

Pine is the only conifer species planted in wide scale in Sri Lanka. Pinus caribaea(introduced in 1965) has mainly been planted in low country wet zone and P. patula(introduced in 1966) has been planted in up country. The main objective was to rehabilitate the degraded land. As a non-wood forest product, resin tapping was also suggested at that time.

However, growing pine in Sri Lanka created a dialogue over its unsuitability for the natural evidences. There were evidences such as drying out of streams, reduction of ground water level, no undergrowth and lack of animal diversity after planting pine. Therefore, Forest Department has taken a policy decision that new pine plantations would not be established again in Sri Lanka

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Jack Wood

(Artocarpus heterophylum). In popular use in the seventeenth century for household furniture, Brohier writes it lost popularity for most of the eighteenth century, and came back into frequent use during the 19th century. Jak is cultivated extensively for it large fruit and it timber as a utility building wood and for small furniture objects such as chairs and chests. Jak is yet prevalent and in use, and the wood and roots are a source of dye.

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Satinwood

(Chloroxylon swietenia), called Buruta in Sinhala, is a light-colored wood seen plain or with streaks. Figured satinwood is called mal buruta. Moderate in height, this tree is found in the dry zone. The wood is heavy and dense and difficult to work. Brohier says the wood from the older trees have a golden brown sheen on the grain. Satinwood is a decorative wood used frequently with ebony. For dating purpose we know the wood became fashionable and was used from the mid-eighteenth century on.

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Ebony Wood

(Diospyros ebenum). Diospyros ebenum is a species of ebony that is found in Sri Lanka. During the 17th century ebony was the commonest wood used for furniture, and was found abundantly throughout the flat dry country of the east and southeast coastal region. The Dutch preferred a dark wood for contrast against the white walls of their residences. Sri Lankan ebenum species excelled above other species in evenness and intensity of its color. Brohier tells us that in the 18th century these darker woods were used for legs and moldings, and that there was a popoluar trend of staining other lighter hardwoods black to look like ebony.

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