Myanmar's forest coverage was down to 24 %in 2008 from 57 % in 1962 and 70 % in Konbaung dynasty. Such rate was bringing the county's forest depletion to the worst condition, the report quoted an analyst as saying.
The main root cause of forest depletion was due to excessive cutting down of trees, illegal logging, less replanting, changing cultivation system and increase use of firewood. Due to both legal and illegal log exports, there produced no enough raw timber to manufacture finished products.
Myanmar's export of finished wood logs amounted to 453 million U.S. dollars in the fiscal year 2008-09 while it was 641.87 million U.S. dollars in the fiscal year 2011-12. Myanmar produced nearly 283,000 cubic meters of teak and 1.98 million cubic meters of hardwood annually. The forest products were half owned by the private sector. Myanmar stands a major exporter of teak in the world, taking up 75 % of the world market. Myanmar exports teak most to India, followed by China, Bangladesh, Thailand and Malaysia.