MARKETING is serious business. Fail this, a company’s future survival can be at risk. Having embarked on large-scale Industrial Tree Plantation (ITP) planting in 2017, Jawala knew exactly what the saying “the proof of the pudding is in the eating” meant.
The value and quality of its million-plus ITP trees could only be judged through testing, not promises or appearances.
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Come 2020, three-year old sample logs were subjected to rigorous Japanese-standard testing.
Further product-value testing followed annually.
By late March 2026, Jawala announced the commencement of commercial-scale harvesting across its 5,300ha ITP estate – about 80 per cent Laran (3,700ha) and 20 per cent Albizia – when it was clear that market confidence had been firmly established.
Rahman Khan, Group CEO and Executive Director of Singapore Exchange-listed Jawala Inc., recounted the journey of developing market confidence in an exclusive late-night interview with Daily Express at the Sapulut Forest Reserve on April 9.
“Mr Kan, I want to share how we developed the market for our logs and how our customer, Tu Kui Foh, Director of Integrated Wood Processing Sdn Bhd Tawau, developed products from our logs,” Rahman began.
“In 2020, we established a research plot planted in 2017 by my Chief Operations Officer, a fellow ex-St Patrick’s boy from Tawau who prefers not to be named.”
The Breakthrough Test
“When the trees were about three years and 10 months old, I decided to cut some because they had reached a diameter of about 23cm and a height of around 12 metres.
“I told our guys here: cut some trees, I’m going to ask a plywood mill to peel them and convert them into plywood.
“At the time, the factory was in Sook, near us. It was run by a Japanese company called Kosinar, so I went to meet them.
“I told them I wanted to do this trial. They said they would be most happy to do it.
“So I sent the logs and they started producing plywood from them.
“The plywood was put through Japanese-standard tests and was graded as general plywood – 100 per cent Laran plantation plywood, about 5mm thick and measuring three feet by seven feet.”
3-year old trees passed general plywood test
“After going through all the tests, it failed only one – the Young’s Modulus Bending Test, a measure of stiffness or resistance to elastic deformation when force is applied, which is required for structural-grade plywood.
“In other words, plywood produced from mere three-year-and-10-month-old Laran trees met the requirements for a general plywood product.
“So I asked the Japanese, ‘Can you sell this plywood?’
“He said, ‘Yes, we can.’
“Wow!
“And mind you, the tree was only three years and 10 months old at the time.
“So that was exciting news for us.”
When both Rahman & Tu excited
“After that, every year we carried out two or three trials with our customers.
“This time we sent logs to a customer in Sandakan and then to Tawau – Mr Tu Kui Foh of Integrated Wood Processing, who is here with us tonight.
“The trees I delivered to Tu were about four years old.
“I still remember we cut 10 trees, loaded them into a pickup truck – no lorries, no heavy transport – and delivered them fresh. Cut today, delivered immediately. Laran.
“Mr Tu started processing them and converting them into plywood.
“The recovery rate was 40 per cent.”
A perfectly normal recovery rate for small-diameter logs.
“So it got Mr Tu excited and it got us excited.”
From Research to Real Markets
“Slowly, year by year, I developed the Laran and Mr Tu developed the products.
“The most exciting part was that he started marketing plantation plywood to Europe and Japan.
“But that’s not all.”
Unlocking New Value Through Innovation
“From plywood, we started developing what we call laminated veneer lumber, or LVL.
“In timber processing, lamination refers to bonding multiple layers of wood together using strong adhesives to create a single, highly durable product.
“Laminated veneer lumber is essentially sawn timber produced using plywood technology.
“Simply put, our trees were still relatively small, so producing wide planks directly was difficult.
“But with LVL technology, you can make them wider.
“The process is simple – peel first, laminate, then size.
“After that, the next big step was harvesting five-year-old trees on a larger scale.
“Previously, we would send about 10 trees. Then we sent about two hectares – one hectare of Albizia and one hectare of Laran – to Integrated Wood Processing in Tawau.”
Research Drives Better Performance
“Then it became a much larger R&D project.
“Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM), Universiti Malaysia Sabah (UMS), Mr Tu and ourselves were all involved.
“Mr Tu started developing sawn timber products and carrying out full testing.
“Frankly, they spent a lot of money on the research and the results were even more encouraging.
“The results showed we were able to improve the density characteristics of the wood through various processing techniques.
“From the fifth year onward, we started delivering five-year-old, six-year-old and seven-year-old trees.
“That was in 2025.”
Global Buyers Come Calling
“And now, with the market development they have done and the product development we have done together, they have already exported plantation-grown Laran and Albizia products to Japan, the United States and Europe.
“So today, April 9, here we are.
“Finally, Jawala is commercially harvesting for them, for Integrated Wood Processing, on a much larger scale.”
Rahman concluded his account with characteristic clarity before passing the conversation to Tu Kui Foh to share his own experience in timber processing and product development.
