There are multiple market layers for wood products. Each country has its own domestic market that may be connected to a regional or global market.
Timber
Lumber is wood that has been processed into uniform and useful sizes (dimensional lumber), including beams and planks or boards. Lumber is mainly used for construction framing, as well as finishing (floors, wall panels, window frames). ...
supply to domestic markets in many
tropical forest
Tropical forests are forested ecoregions with tropical climates – that is, land areas approximately bounded by the Tropic of Cancer, tropics of Cancer and Tropic of Capricorn, Capricorn, but possibly affected by other factors such as prevailing ...
countries is largely provided by informal logging, namely
chainsaw
A chainsaw (or chain saw) is a portable handheld power saw, power saw that cuts with a set of teeth attached to a rotating chain driven along a guide bar.
Modern chainsaws are typically gasoline or electric and are used in activities such as t ...
milling. Regional and global markets involve producer, passthrough, processing, and consumer countries.
China has become the largest overall importer of
wood products
Wood is a structural tissue/material found as xylem in the stems and roots of trees and other woody plants. It is an organic materiala natural composite of cellulosic fibers that are strong in tension and embedded in a matrix of lignin t ...
. China's imports mostly become exports to other countries including the US, the EU, Japan, and the rest of the world.
In 2016, it is estimated that only 30% of primary tropical timber products on the
European Union
The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are Geography of the European Union, located primarily in Europe. The u ...
market were verified
sustainable
Sustainability is a social goal for people to co-exist on Earth over a long period of time. Definitions of this term are disputed and have varied with literature, context, and time. Sustainability usually has three dimensions (or pillars): env ...
(either
PEFC or
FSC). If the main timber-consuming EU countries (Germany, France, the UK, Netherlands, Italy, Belgium, and Spain) sourced only verified sustainable primary tropical timber, an estimated additional 5.3 million ha of tropical forests can be impacted.
References
Timber industry
Industries (economics)
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