Log export ban aims to break Sabah timber cartel

KOTA KINABALU: Breaking a Sabah timber cartel that has been monopolised by one party for more than a decade is among the key factors for the banning of log exports by the newly minted Parti Warisan Sabah-led government.

Chief Minister Datuk Seri Mohd Shafie Apdal told the state assembly that the timber “extraction, buyer and seller” were all one group that has monopolised the trade that brought little direct spin-offs to the people and the economy.