Timber products from lesser used wood species grown in Mozambique -technology, properties, exploitation features and market possibilities Sågade trävaror av mindre kända och använda träslag från Mozambique - teknologi, egenskaper, funktioner och marknadens möjligheter Forest products are undoubtedly connected to our daily life, either processed or in raw condition. The extents to which they are processed reflect the advances of the modern era. For many societies, wood is the most distinguished of forest products. The level and type of uses given to wood varies from one context to another. For example, in developed nations wood processing is in line with the level of industry. In Mozambique however, little progress took place in terms of wood processing. Amongst several reasons two are of major impacts, namely poor industrialization along with high diversity of timber species requiring specialized treatment. The latter reason has prompted selective logging in natural tropical forests overlooking hundreds of other wood species with potential to common uses. In recent years, natural tropical forests in developing countries like Mozambique faced rapid depreciation due to overexploitation of very few well known timbers. Consequently, this situation impaired the development of wood industry in Mozambique which included increased unemployment in rural areas. Therefore, the search for abundant alternative timbers is in the research agenda of developing countries including Mozambique. It is largely believed that the success of this approach will demand studies aimed at generating knowledge of wood properties for better utilization as well as wood anatomy for identification purposes. Timber products from lesser used wood species grown in Mozambique - Technology, properties, exploitation features and market possibilities Popular description of the project Tropical wood species growing in Mozambique have been studied but no information exists on the properties and service features of timber products from the studied species. The proposed study on the products from lesser used timbers from Mozambique will contribute to some diversification in the tropical timber market in Sweden and other Nordic countries. Undoubtedly the interest for these timbers will ensure employment in the timber sector in Mozambique as well as income for the country. The project can increase the interest of Swedish companies willing to invest and work with tropical timber. Mozambique is not in the list of the tropical countries with well established timber export. Forests are an important part of the ecology in Mozambique and consist of miombo woodlands, tropical rain forests and savannas covering 78% of the land surface. The forests constitute one of the major sectors in the country?s economy, providing diverse benefits to the local people, including material for constructions, firewood and charcoal production. In recent years the contribution of forest exports and wood industry to the gross domestic product (GDR) was on average 3%. A limited number of timber species (10-12 species, e.g. jambire, mahogany, azobe, meranti, teak, etc.) is mainly used for processing and trade worldwide. In Mozambique, the stock of well-known wood species such as chanfuta (Afzelia quanzensis Welw), jambirre (Milletia stuhlmannii Taub) and umbila (Pterocarpus angolensis DC) has become scarce in Mozambican natural forests. In this context, harvesting of abundant but lesser used wood species needs to be gradually encouraged and increased in Mozambique. Hence, the use of a broader range of wood species will conform to what the natural forests can produce sustainably to the demand and also will contribute to reduce the depletion of well-known wood species. On the other hand, the latest EU-wide trade data indicates that imports of hardwoods from developing countries were showing early signs of recovery in the first half of 2010. During this period, European imports of hardwood logs, sawn wood, plywood and veneers from developing countries resulted in 1 721 000 m3, an increase of 21% compared to the volume achieved in the first half of 2009. Sweden and the Nordic countries are increasingly interested in the import of tropical timber for the above application. The project will benefit for both Mozambique by increasing and developing the timber sector of the economy (i.e. employing more local people) and for Sweden by diversification of the timber product market and revealing the possibility for Swedish companies for investment in Mozambique forest products sector.