UPM has undertaken a major audit of its Russian timber suppliers and concluded that the vast majority meet its operating and environmental standards.
The Finnish forest products giant evaluated 112 suppliers, covering 235 different logging sites. It found that 80% were up to standard. The remainder of the sites only had “minor non-conformities” relating to health and safety, logging site management and logging practices.
“Corrective actions have been agreed with these companies,” said UPM.
It did find serious breaches of contract at two suppliers and immediately terminated business with them.
UPM’s supplier audits are carried out by its wood procurement team and the logging site visit is usually undertaken with the supplier and local forest authorities. The information gathered is used in conjunction with its wood tracing system to build up a complete picture of its supply chain’s activities and performance.
