The Timber Trade Federation (TTF) has reiterated its plea to members to exercise extreme caution when importing plywood from environmental hot spots. At the same time, the organisation is looking to underpin its environmental credentials by introducing more “bite” into its Code of Conduct.

Andy Roby, TTF’s head of environmental and CSR policy, advised plywood buyers: “If it’s coming from a high-risk country, you’ve got to take precautions – you have to do due diligence on the sourcing of the logs. If you’re bringing it in from China, you need to get the Chinese mills to do their due diligence.”

With regard to purchases from Malaysia, PNG, the Solomon Islands and the Philippines, the TTF is urging the following as minimum chain of custody evidence: felling licence; transport permit(s); and an export certificate from a recognised authority. “It’s about discriminating between suppliers – and watching out for the rogues,” said Mr Roby.

Underlining the TTF’s policy of encouraging buyers to give incentives to suppliers with regard to chain of custody performance and certification, he pointed to the launch in June this year of TTF’s China Action Plan which offers an 80% subsidy on the cost of “getting some form of chain of custody going with Chinese suppliers”. One federation member has already taken up this option and has obtained orders from major retailers as a result. The message should be that “suppliers are not on their own – there are substantial funds available”, said Mr Roby.

Asked about the TTF’s early response to the environmental furore surrounding plywood, Mr Roby said: “We could have given better advice. Our Code of Conduct had too much ‘wiggle room’.” The process of tightening up the code was ongoing and might not be completed/approved for another year, but the aim was certainly to create “more bite”. He said: “It’s not a case of locking the stable door after the horse has bolted because this is not going to go away.”

Possible expulsion

Under current proposals for the revamped code, if a member were found not to be carrying out due diligence and to be sitting on a significant volume of, for example, PNG material, the TTF would take them through the process laid down in the Code of Conduct which “may result in their expulsion”.

Mike Harrod, managing director of PT Agencies, welcomed the TTF’s advice to members to avoid material from PNG and the Solomon Islands, and followed up by calling on The Federation to make it mandatory for members to sign up to Responsible Purchasing Policy.

According to Mr Harrod, it is questionable whether large quantities of CE-marked Chinese plywood entering the UK construction sector have undergone “proper factory production control testing procedures”. In general, the larger builders were following the FSC route whereas some of the smaller operators “will buy on price and will find a builders merchant willing to sell it to them”.

Certified plywood is attracting significantly less demand in the UK than in other regions, such as Benelux and Scandinavia, he said.

Paul Romaine, director of panels specialist CIPTA, argued that increased UK purchasing of Chinese plywood “has hindered a lot of the environmental efforts to develop certified timber sales and tracking systems”. Encouraged by this higher demand, Chinese mills were seeking out hardwoods whose origins were “often uncertain or undocumented”, leading to an adverse impact on the overall quality of plywood finding its way into the UK market.

“There has been a lot of talk in the trade about this, but very little in the way of a credible response and action,” he said. “There is a short-termist, profit-driven approach at the moment but, at some point, the trade will have to be accountable for what it’s supplying into the market.” If key UK players failed to act on the development of, for example, credible tracking systems, there’s a distinct danger “the government will take it out of their hands”.

Improvement efforts

Meanwhile, according to Lathams’ group panel products director Chris Sutton, there was evidence of some Chinese plywood producers “making efforts to clean and green themselves” and to prove their legality by adopting a chain of custody regime. Some poplar-core paulownia and eucalyptus products entering the UK “satisfy our minimum requirements”, he said.

With product availability from many traditional sources becoming tighter, “we need to broaden our horizons”, Mr Sutton said. “We may have to get used to softwood cores and hardwood faces in the future.”

Responsible for bringing 5,000m3 of Chinese plywood into the UK during an average month, Panda Panel Agencies’ commitment to China has extended to establishing its own office at Qufu, complete with four inspectors. The company’s products include: red-faced poplar plywood using mixed light hardwoods from Malaysia; pine-faced poplar plywood; and tropical hardwood-throughout plywood. A recent addition to the range has been temperate hardwood-throughout plywood using, for example, elm, birch and poplar. According to managing director Chris Williams, this new option has already attracted significant UK sales “because it’s seen as more environmentally friendly”.

Greenpeace‘s campaign focus on bintangor has forced Chinese mills to identify other options for the UK market. “We have had quite a few late shipments because the mills are struggling to get alternative veneers,” he said. Given concerns over the long-term availability of poplar, large gaps in supply could ultimately occur, said Mr Williams.

Panda’s managing director went on to acknowledge continuing misgivings in the UK surrounding Chinese plywood which, he admitted, had been fuelled by conclusive evidence of product misrepresentation. He said: “Be very wary about contacting people in China and the claims they make. In China, price very definitely equals quality – if there’s a cheap price circulating, there’s only one reason for it.”

Noting that offers frequently come from export agents passing themselves off as mill representatives, Mr Williams said: “It’s very important to know what you’re buying and who you’re buying it from.”