Indonesian Plywood Export Competitiveness in Global Market

Abstract

Since the 1980s Indonesia and Malaysia have been the world main exporters of plywood with a dominant market share. However, in 2002 Indonesia plywood exports decreased. Even since 2007, the total exports of Indonesia and Malaysia have decreased significantly, and the position was replaced by China as the major exporter country with the largest market share. This change was thought to have an impact on the position of competitiveness. This study aims to analyse the position and relationship competitiveness of Indonesian plywood exports with other main exporting countries in the global market. This study used secondary data from 2001-2020, from six the world major exporter of plywood. Revealed Symmetric Comparative Advantage (RSCA), Trade Specialization Index (TSI) and Spearman rank correlation were used to answer the research objectives. The results showed that the volume and value of Indonesian plywood exports fluctuated with a downward trend. This condition was in line with the decline of Indonesia market share in the global market. The RSCA showed that the six exporting countries analysed have competitiveness on plywood commodities. Indonesia has the highest competitiveness, but with downward trend every year. The TSI showed that the plywood exports Indonesia, Malaysia, Russia, Finland and Brazil were in the maturity stage, while China was still in the growth stage. Based on Spearman rank correlation, Indonesian plywood export competitiveness was significantly correlated with Russia, Finland and Brazil. The correlation with Russia was strong and complementary. Meanwhile, the correlation with Finland was strong and Brazil was moderate correlation and competitive.