Indonesia and Malaysia manufacturers have established themselves as major plywood suppliers in South-East Asia region during the 1980s.
Since Indonesia has banned the export of round logs more than 40 years ago, many would have thought that the local manufacturers should produced better quality plywood (compared with their neighbouring countries), but the truth is a lot of the plywood manufacturers also owned timber moulding factories so they need to divert certain volume of good quality logs to their integrated timber complexes for production, hence the quality of Indonesian and Malaysian production does not really show any great difference.
Most of the medium to large scale plywood mills in Indonesia are situated in Kalimantan, Jawa and Sumatra, whereas in Malaysia most of the the large scale plywood mills are situated in Eastern part of Malaysia, i.e. Sabah and Sarawak. The species are mainly Meranti (also known as Lauan) - as it is an ideal choice for manufacturers and builders worldwide.
Typical Meranti plyood specifications will be Rotary-cut Meranti face/back plywood with Meranti or other tropical hardwood core. The glue is MR type II and the grade is following IWPA grading rules.
Dimensions : 2.7mm (4' x 8' & 3' x 7'), 3.4mm (4' x 8'), 4.8mm (4' x 8'), 5.0mm (4' x 8'), 5.2mm (4' x 8'), 5.5mm (4' x 8') and other sizes available upon request. Panels 2.7mm to 5.5mm, grade OVL/BTR with reject back unless otherwise specified. Sound backs upon request.
9mm (8.5mm No minus) BB/CC, 12mm (115.mm No minus) BB/CC, 15mm (14.5mm No minus), BB/CC, 18mm (17.5mm No minus) BB/CC. Panels produced with sound sanded back.
