MATRADE TOKYO & OSAKA
Japan Needs to Build
Temporary Housing For Earthquake Victims
Temporary Housing For Earthquake Victims
According to the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport (MLIT), the government will subsidize building of 62,290 units of temporary houses requested by the quake stricken region. However, tenants need to pay for electricity, gas and water and they must stay in the house for 2 years.
So far, 10% of the area have been cleaned up and ready for construction or under construction. The government needs to ensure that all the rubbles have been removed so the construction of the temporary houses can be done immediately.
The construction of the temporary houses is mainly being supplied by major domestic housing manufactures such as Daiwa House, Sekusui House and Misawa Homes. Since the reconstruction projects in the quake stricken area are huge and needs massive supplies of construction material such as plywood, insulation sheets, etc., the demand for building materials is expected to rise. Due to current situation where most local companies have to halt their production, importation of building materials is needed.
Japan is in urgent need of pre-fabricated houses and manufactured wood products such as plywood, lumber and logs. Japan is one of the largest importers of wood products in the world. In 2010, Japan imported wood raw-material (logs and chips) and processed wood products valued at more than USD 10 billion, which was 20% more than in 2009. Japan also is the biggest importer of wood chips and plywood, second largest importer of logs and was ranked as 3rd biggest importer of lumber in the world last year.
MLIT has requested Japan Federation of Housing Organizations (www.judanren.or.jp) and related industries for their full support in securing the target supplies of building materials to be achieved by this coming summer. Yet, in this regard, actual needs of houses are not made by the Central Government but by the local governments. Currently, home builders and building materials suppliers are negotiating with their counterparts to meet with the required supply volume. Then again, without any confirmation on number of houses to be built, building materials suppliers are unable to settle orders.
The local government in ensuring that the imported building materials is complying with standards set by the Central government to eligible for subsidy, they are compiling the list of housing companies including those from overseas. For example, Miyagi Prefectural Government has appointed Federation of Housing & Community Centers (www.sumaimachi-center-rengoukai.or.jp) to develop a database on local and overseas housing companies that meet with the required standard or criteria set by Central Government. The Federation will compile the list by May.
While this seems to be offering chance for overseas companies, most likely, domestic home builders will be undertaking most of housing construction projects in the damaged area.
Recently, MATRADE Tokyo and Osaka have received inquiries for plywood and logs from a trading houses and a local distributor. According to the local distributor, the demand for glue-laminated products and other pre-cut wood products will be increased since those products can be used for re-building efforts more quickly as opposed to demand for basic commodities such as lumber and plywood.
MATRADE Tokyo & Osaka
German Moves to
Renewable Energy Sources
After the recent earthquake and tsunami decimated Japan's northeastern coast that triggered the ongoing nuclear catastrophe at the Fukushima power plant, German Chancellor Angela Merkel has promised to bring an end to nuclear power in Germany and accelerate the switch to renewables.
On Friday April 15, 2011, Chancellor Angela Merkel met with governors of Germany's 16 states and two other cabinet ministers in Berlin and has come out with a six-point plan as part of its efforts to switch to renewable over the next decade.
Merkel's broad six-point plan presented at the meeting were:
Expanding renewable energy. Investing in more wind, solar, biomass energies and will raise the renewable-energy share of Germany's total energy use, from a baseline of 17 percent in 2010.
Expanding grids and storage. Building a much larger storage and delivery network for electricity, particularly wind energy, which can be generated in the north but must be carried to the south.
Efficiency. The government hopes to improve the heating efficiency of German buildings and reduce consumption by 20 percent over the next decade.
Flexible power. The government wants to build more flexible power plants that can pick up slack from wind or solar energy when the weather fails to generate enough electricity during peak demand. The obvious source of flexible power for now, besides nuclear energy, is natural gas.
Research and development. The government will increase government support for research into better energy storage and more efficient grids to a total of €500 million between now and 2020.
Citizen involvement. The government wants to involve its sometimes-recalcitrant citizen due to ongoing resistance against wind generators and the installation of an efficient new power line grid in some regions.
In June this year, a law will be passed confirming Germany’s exit from nuclear power which should be completed at the latest by 2022.
MATRADE TC’s Comments:
Germany currently relies on nuclear plants to cover 23 percent of its energy demand. Merkel's predecessor, Chancellor Gerhard Schröder, passed a law in 2002 to shutter these plants gradually, with the country to be nuclear free by 2022. But Merkel has controversially reversed this phase-out last autumn by proposing to extend its lifespan.
Now, she is reversing the reversal. She would like to see all nuclear plants in Germany shut down within 10 years. Eight of Germany's oldest power plants were already taken off line in March 2011. The capacity lost by those shutdowns will not be replaced by increased activity at other plants. Within the space of two weeks in March, Germany have become a net importer of electricity instead of a net exporter, importing its energy needs from neighboring France.
Malaysia could take advantage and tap the trade potential resulting from this move towards renewable energy sources. The main category of renewable energy relevant to Malaysia is of course biomass which includes bio-fuel produced from palm oil and other agricultural raw materials. Solar energies are also of direct interest to our bilateral trade as Malaysia is already a leading manufacturer of solar panels and modules. During the recent TIM to Berlin, Robert Bosch Solar has indicated interest to locate its solar panel manufacturing plant in Malaysia. This again could pave ways for Malaysian manufacturers of parts and components to be in their supply chain.
Another approach to tap this market sector is for Malaysian companies in the renewable energy as well in energy saving sector to promote aggressively in specialized trade fairs in the renewable energy and power generation sector which are held annually in Germany, among them were:
International Exhibition & Conference for Energy from Waste and Biomass, Bremen (May 2011)
Intersolar Europe, Munich (June 2011)
International Trade Fair and Congress on Energy & Water, Essen (February 2012)
International Trade Fair for Renewable Energy and Passive House, Stuttgart (February 2012)
Trade Fair for Renewable and Conventional Power Generation, Transmission and Distribution, Hannover (April 2012)
BioEnergy Conference, Hannover (November 2012)
DENEX (Trade Fair and Conference for Decentralized Energy Systems and Energy Efficient Building and Renovation, Wiesbaden (November 2012)
MATRADE Frankfurt
April 2011
