Increased UK availability of sapele is expected to be one of the benefits of Congo signing a Voluntary Partnership Agreement (VPA) with the EU, according to James Latham plc’s chairman Peter Latham.
Congo became only the second country after Ghana to agree a VPA, which aims to ensure the legality of timber entering the EU.
“Congo is an important source of tropical hardwoods, particularly sapele which is the most popular species for the UK market,” said Mr Latham. “FSC-certified sapele is available on the market, but in reality in small quantities. There is also third party verified legal origin (VLO) timber available.
“But the importance of FLEGT products is that the definition of legality is a bit broader than VLO and has been achieved with stakeholder agreement. While it is not as good as FSC-certified material, it does take thing a step further and provide more reassurance than VLO timber.”
Mr Latham said FLEGT timber will be yet another stage in demonstrating that timber is purchased in the knowledge that it’s legally harvested.
“I think it will benefit the small producers in the Congo and open the market up for them.”
Mr Latham said he was disappointed that government departments and agencies were still not specifying FSC-certified sapele and tropical plywood.
“Technically there are not enough supplies of these products in the UK to meet demand but we are selling most of these certified products without the chain of custody in place,” he said.
He explained that public procurers are often not specifying a certified product, but Lathams is supplying them with the certified product and taking the hit on the certification premium.
“It’s a question of government will. They make all the right noises but they need to carry out more education and policing.”
