The Furniture Sector in Pakistan: Export performance and ... - TRTA i

Box 2.7 UK Timber Trade Federation announces high-risk sources
The Timber Trade Federation (TTF) has told its members that sourcing wood products
made from timber from Papua New Guinea (PNG) or the Solomon Islands was “high risk”.
The announcement followed an investigation by TTF into Greenpeace’s last year
allegations that PNG-sourced bintangor face veneers on Chinese plywood were illegal.
TTF said that in the absence of credible evidence of legality, products made from wood from
these countries had to be considered high risk, and advised its members to avoid them. TTF
added that the current situation in PNG and the Solomon Islands meant there was very little
or no material meeting the environmental standards that the UK market requires.
Today certified wood products are clearly on display in the leading European, US DIY (do-ityourself)
outlets and builders’ stores. They showcase e.g. certified shelving, glue-laminated
boards, garden furniture, decking, flooring and similar products. It has more recently widened
into household furniture, where there are some signs of using certification (or lack of it) as a
market access criteria and bargaining tool (reported e.g. by Indonesian Furniture and
Handicraft Association ASMINDO in the French market).
The certification procedure of further processed products (furniture) differs from that of
primary products (logs, sawn wood, panels) in a sense that the furniture makers seldom possess
forest or carry out forestry activities by themselves (they are not vertically integrated). They
are normally adding value to the primary processed products or components, which they buy
from timber traders, upstream suppliers or contractors in their supplier network. Since the
primary and further processing usually takes place in different locations, the physical and
economic link between further processing and forest management often remains weaker and
more indirect.
In such a situation, decisions on the quality of forest management do not rest in the hands of
furniture-makers directly (as the Pakistan industry voices out). But they can influence their
contractors to acquire forest management certification and supply certified materials through a
verified chain-of-custody (CoC) to their factories. The chain-of-custody control ensures that
the wood is genuinely arriving from the certified forest. It is an essential tool for
communicating to the market on the producer’s compliance with forest certification standards.
The furniture industry is increasingly being targeted by environmental NGOs, which are
promoting certification and selling services for companies who want to reach certification
status. One example is in the box below.
International Trade Centre 31