No more illegal timber, says EU

FROM this month, the European Union (EU) won’t be accepting illegally produced wood products.
What impact will its decision have on Papua New Guinea’s forestry sector?
PNG’s direct exports of forest products to the EU are modest—just 0.2% of the exports in 2011. Of this, plantation-grown balsawood is the single largest export.
A new EU ruling (EU Timber Regulation No.995/2010) bans the importation of illegally harvested and produced timber products into EU markets.
But direct PNG exports to the EU are unlikely to be affected, according to Bob Tate, executive director of peak industry body, the Papua New Guinea Forest Industries Association.
The bulk of PNG’s timber finds its way into overseas markets via China, which bought 78% of PNG forest exports, mainly round logs, in 2011.
Much of this timber ultimately finds its way into the EU in manufactured products.
While any lasting impact of the EU ruling is likely to be on these exports, the industry is confident it is taking the right steps to mitigate the risk.
“PNG is the only country in the world with 100% independent third-party monitoring of its log exports [by Swiss company SGS], so we are well-placed to meet these emerging regulatory requirements,” Tate told Business Advantage PNG.
“We are also working with China’s state forestry administration to make sure our systems are in sync with what they are doing.’
In addition, Tate estimates that 50–60% of processed timber exports—which go mostly to Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific—are produced by the companies that have adopted Forestry Stewardship Council (FSC), the Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification regulatory and traceability standards or the SGS TLTV system for certification.
Cloudy Bay Sustainable Forestry is one PNG company which plans to complete its FSC certification in 2013.
“FSC certification isn’t the cheapest thing to do,’ notes Chairman Rob de Fegely, who expects the EU regulations, and those in markets such as the United States and Australia, to effectively put an end to the market for illegally logged product.