Study on Current status and task of sawmills located in the Woodland of Korea

In November 2011, the government established the Timber Industry Promotion Plan (2012-2016) with the goal of developing the foundation for timber industry covering the forest management and timber production by expanding the market for timber industry from 24 trillion won up to 35 trillion won to increase the contribution of the timber industry to the timber industry, expanding per capita use of timber from 0.55 m³ up to 0.63 m³ to cope with climate change, and expanding domestic timber supply from 14% to 20%. In order to achieve the goal the government is establishing detailed plans such as the expansion of the stable supply of domestic timber, the improvement of the competitiveness of the timber industry, the promotion of the use of wooden goods, and the development of the basis for promoting timber industry. However, there are many problems such as the intensifying competition in securing raw materials due to the disadvantage in the sustainable use of resources according to the disproportionate distribution of age groups, the low-grade timber with low utilization values, short supply of timber inside Korea, the increase of imported timber price, the pettiness of the timer industry and lack of effort to develop technology, the supremacy of lumberjack over the raw timber price and circulation, limitation in making precise estimation and prediction about the market due to lack of timber related statistical data, unplanned forest tree production, the difficulties in securing stable raw material supply and consumption due to the small distribution of consumers, insufficient national awareness and public relations concerning timber, insufficient use of timber by the people compared to foreign countries, insufficient demand for wooden pellets, the weakening of productivity due to the decrease and aging of manpower in the raw timber production and timber industry, the limitation of productivity due to slow mechanization of forestry, the absolute insufficiency of forest road, and the incompletion of legal system for the promotion of timber industry. On the other hand, there are hardly any empirical case study on the management of sawmills considering regional characteristics. Under the circumstances, this study intended to identify the problems related with the management and seek for the developmental direction of sawmills and the ways to expand domestic timber centering on sawmills located in 3 counties: Jangsu-gun, Jinan-gun, and Muju-gun, which are the typical forest areas inside Jeollabuk-do and are located in the inland area. According to the result, all sawmills surveyed used domestic timber that they were promoting public interest with the forest in the region through silviculture such as lumbering and afforestation and contributing to local economy and job creating by activating forest management.