The UK timber trade is on the up, according to Timber Trade Federation (TTF) president Geoff Rhodes.
Speaking at the association’s annual dinner at The Hilton last week, he said provisional estimates for 2003 for timber and wood-based panel product imports show an increase of 3.9% in volume on 2002.
Coupled with an estimated increase in domestic production, there could be an increase in the overall value and volume of timber and wood-based panel products amounting to £2.4bn and 17.4 million m3 – up from 16.1million m3 in 2001.
Growth areas include timber frame housing up 25%, wooden flooring up 20%, and decking which has tripled since 1999 and is forecast to have increased by 10% in the past year.
Mr Rhodes stressed the importance of the wood. for good campaign and said money was needed for the work and a promotional premium could be set up to raise funds from a levy.
Buying timber from legal and well-managed souces was a top priority and the TTF was developing a Responsible Purchasing Policy and taking the lead in reacting to the EU Action Plan on illegal logging.
Guest speaker Gareth Thomas, parliamentary under-secretary of state for DFID, outlined the government’s actions on illegal logging and praised the TTF for the key role it had played. He welcomed industry action to exclude illegal timber from the market and said illegal logging was top of international forest agendas, with major developed trading economies putting programmes in place to tackle the issue.
The TTF’s Lifetime Achievement Award was presented to Clifford Champion, in the trade for 50 years before retiring as chairman of AW Champion in 2001.
