Kumasi, Sept 5, GNA- The Timber Industry Development Division (TIDD) of the Forestry Commission (FC) has directed all sawmillers in the country to henceforth create market outlets for the direct sale of lumber to small-scale retailers on the local market.

Mr Joseph Pius Peprah, acting Executive Director of the TIDD, who gave the directive, explained that the arrangement was to ensure successful implementation of the ministerial directive that all sawmillers should supply 20 percent of their lumber production to the domestic market.

He was speaking at a meeting of the TIDD management and executive members of the Furniture and Wood Products Association of Ghana (FAWAG), Ghana Timber Millers Organisation (GTMO) and the Wood Workers Association of Ghana (WAG) in Kumasi on Friday.

The meeting created a platform for managers, producers and consumers of lumber to collectively address the problem of inadequate supply of lumber on the local market.

Mr Peprah warned that any one who fails to comply with the directive to establish local sale outlets for lumber at its mill, would have its export permit withdrawn.

He said in addition to creating such market outlets, sawmills are also obliged to employ a schedule officer to stock the outlets with lumber and also keep those outlets open to local consumers.

To ensure that the directives and all rules are complied with, TIDD officers will visit the mills to verify and also take stock of lumber available at the markets, he said.

They will also submit monthly reports on performance of the local markets to the Ministry of Lands and Forestry, the Commission and the GTMO.

"This directive and arrangement should, however, not be misconstrued as interference or an imposition by the TIDD, but rather be seen as a strategy designed to ensure that the local market is not starved of lumber", he said.

Mr Peprah explained that even though government has come out with various interventions to ensure that the domestic market has enough supply of lumber after the ban on chainsaw lumbering, this has not yielded the desired results.

Mr E.N.A. Okai, Kumasi Area Manager of the TIDD, appealed to all stakeholders in the lumber industry to collaborate with the TIDD to ensure that all land exports of lumber to neighbouring countries are from genuine and approved sources.