Founded as a local timber merchant in 1885, Dekker Hout (Timber) has developed into a multinational producer of hardwood and softwood construction and consumer products.
A pioneer of the European International Timber trade, Dekker has evolved through the years. It started to import and process Asian wood species, such as dark red meranti and merbau in the 1960s, and, with more than 5,000m³ of kilning capacity and 20 moulders, became a key supplier of joinery wood and mouldings in the 1970s to timber merchants, joinery producers and DIY chains in the Netherlands, Belgium, France, Germany, the UK and Ireland.
Since then its product range and markets have shown further significant development. In fact, Dekker is now a producer and importer of mouldings, skirting, architraves, cladding, glass beads, edge-glued panels, multi-layer flooring, door frames, doors, joinery timber and profiles, decking, fencing, garden products and garden furniture. And it exports to all the major European markets, from Iceland to Russia.
Production facilities
Throughout the company’s growth, Dekker maintains, the key focus has always been the quality and capacity of its production facilities, either in its own factories or at suppliers operating under its technical supervision. Today Dekker manufactures in the Netherlands, Malaysia, Indonesia, China, Cameroon, Bolivia and Brazil.
Before it goes into production, each item is thoroughly analysed to assess whether it’s best to make it in Europe or the timber’s country of origin on the basis of potential order volume and quality requirements. It currently has 250 employees in the Netherlands and over 200 in Asia, South America and Africa.
Dekker, which stocks about 80,000m³ of tropical hardwood and hardwood products and 20,000m³ of softwood, maintains that it is a strong believer in certified “sustainable yield forest management” and it is a member of FSC International. In softwood the majority of its stock is FSC certified. In tropical hardwood the figure is around 35%, but expanding rapidly. In fact, its environmental policy, states the company, is dedicated to substituting all currently uncertified products with FSC alternatives. In order to achieve this, it has invested directly in concessions, sawmills and moulding factories in South America and Asia, with its own plant in South America 100% dedicated to FSC-certified hardwood and hardwood products. This strategy has already turned it into Europe’s largest producer of FSC-certified hardwood products, with more than 30 species in stock.
This comprehensive certified offer has won it a following among some of the Europe’s leading timber merchants, joinery manufacturers and DIY chains, including Hornbach and Castorama.
To date Dekker has not promoted its FSC range in the UK very actively, but it does already supply Wickes and B&Q and is targeting the market for future growth.
For more details visit www.gardenwoodproducts. co.uk or www.dekkerhout.nl
