The importer also expects to have TRADA Q-Mark certification awarded this week for the product, made by Kai Wah in China. It becomes the fifth Q-Mark plywood product to come onto the UK market.
Altripan said Kai Wah factory owner Jack Chao was visiting the UK next week to mark the achievements and network with traders at the Timber Trade Federation shippers’ lunch.
The VLC achievement follows the completion of auditing by Soil Association Woodmark to add VLC to Altripan UK’s chain of Custody, so the product can be sold with a verified claim passed on from the factory.
Woodmark project manager Beck Woodrow said the VLC status of the plywood had been maintained thanks to an agreement between The Forest Trust and Rainforest Alliance, the two bodies involved in the Kai Wah VLC project.
"VLC can now be added simply to a company’s existing chain of custody procedures with Woodmark," she said. "The EUTR will make such agreements vital in order to maintain assurance of legality."
"We do responsible purchasing anyway," added Altripan UK’s Andy Simpson. "But we had one big customer who wanted to buy this product, they had to have VLC."
He said the customer, a large builders merchant chain, was a new account for Altripan UK.
"It’s just making sure that every panel you buy ticks the boxes," said Mr Simpson.
He warned that products without adequate legality assurance that are being loaded around the turn of the year in supplier countries could face EUTR issues.
