Latvia should be in a position to supply the UK with timber certified to FSC and PEFC schemes in the near future.
Latvia State Forests’ (LVM) FSC certificate was suspended last summer, but the re-audit of two of its forest regions has now been completed, and the process will start in the next two in coming weeks.
“We don’t know the outcome of the initial audit officially and may not hear for a couple of weeks, but we understand it was satisfactory and are feeling optimistic,” said LVM communications head Tomass Kotovics.
He predicted that all eight of the country’s forest regions would be re-audited and in a position to supply FSC timber by the year.
He added that the first two alone would be able to meet current market demand for FSC-certified Latvian material, and also maintained that the certificate suspension had not had a major impact on the industry.
“We haven’t heard that one customer has called to say don’t deliver because of this,” he said. “Demand has been stable.”
Following recent approval of Latvia’s national PEFC standard, Mr Kotovics said that the next step would be the appointment of a body to undertake the forest certification, which would again then be done region by region.
“Appointment of the body may take a month or so, then the first certification could be completed in about the same period after that,” he said.
