Malaysia is one of the top five exporters of MDF in the world. Our total production capacity exceeds one million cubic metres per year. Presently, most of the major producers use rubberwood as the raw material. With the decline in the price of latex, interest in rubber plantation also decline. At present, the area under rubber is only about 1.2 to 1.4 million hectares, which is approximately half of its original size slightly over a decade ago. As such, it is envisaged that the supply of rubberwood for MDF production would not be sufficient to cater for the huge demand.

Main Researcher: Dr Mohamad Husin