The Timber Trade Federation (TTF) says large UK timber companies are playing a role in the fight against illegal logging in Indonesia.
The TTF’s head of public affairs Mark O’Brien said companies including Jewson, Travis Perkins, Finnforest and James Latham had representatives at the federation’s recent workshop on Indonesia which discussed the sourcing of legal timber from the country.
His comments follow an article in Construction News which speculated that several large merchants could be disciplined by the TTF under its Code of Practice because of Greenpeace accusing them of selling illegally felled Indonesian plywood.
Mr O’Brien said no formal complaints had been made against TTF members from within the supply chain.
He said: “We recognise that Indonesia’s forestry sector does have a lot of problems for all sorts of reasons. These companies are actually taking part in these discussions and want to play a part.”
The TTF wants to see the development of a collective approach to supplier assessment in Indonesia leading to independent auditing of the supply chain.
He also rejected an assertion by Greenpeace campaigner John Sauven that the TTF had recognised that “there were no legitimate mills” in Indonesia.
Mr O’Brien admitted that Indonesia was suffering from deforestation but said the country’s forestry ministry was working to cut out the trade of illegally-felled timber.
