Impacts of the Laos Log and Sawnwood Export Bans

In May 2016, the Government of Lao PDR enacted a Prime Ministerial Order (PM15) which, along with other commitments, aimed to help control the country’s high deforestation rates and promote Laos’ own domestic wood product industry1 by banning the export of all logs and sawnwood. This followed a Notice issued in August 2015 (No. 1360) which also prohibited the export of raw logs. Effects of these regulations are now being felt by both the Vietnamese and Chinese timber industries. The aim of the Lao log and sawnwood export ban was both economic and environmental.

This report identifies the impact of the Lao government’s log and sawnwood export bans introduced in 2015 and 2016 by analyzing 2010-2016 Vietnam and China Custom Statistics for the imports of logs and sawnwood from Laos. The report focuses on Vietnam and China not only due to their significance to the export market but also due to the high-quality trade data provided by their customs agencies through the end of 2016