EU FSC certification will cause wood products companies to reshuffle

EU FSC certification will cause wood products companies to reshuffle Recently, the Ningbo Inspection and Quarantine Bureau organized a force to conduct a sample survey on 63 wood products manufacturing enterprises in Europe with different scales for the EU “Wood and Wood Products Regulations and New Environmental Design Directive” that will take effect on March 3. According to the survey, 87.7% of the companies are aware of the directive. On average, each company has 1 client that has submitted relevant certification requirements, but only 14.28% of the companies have obtained relevant certifications.

Export enterprises generally reflect that due to the fact that China's forest certification has just started, there are still three difficulties for companies to crack down on the new wood products in the EU: First, the cost of raw material transportation will increase. With few FSC-certified local forest farms, the cost of purchasing raw materials from off-site sources will increase significantly after EU customers request them. Second, the cost of certification will increase. Enterprises want to pass FSC certification requires certification costs of 30,000 yuan, after each year need annual review, the annual audit fee is about 15,000 yuan, and after the implementation of FSC forest certification, the company must invest in the certification of the forest management unit for the purchase of raw materials cost. Third, the cost of imported raw materials will increase. The certified imported timber costs about 10% more than the ordinary imported timber.

The new order will be implemented from next month On October 20, 2010, the European Parliament and the European Council formally adopted the European Union's timber and wood products regulations No. 995/2010/EU. The purpose of the regulation is to further improve forestry management and harvesting activities and prevent illegally harvested timber from entering the EU market. This regulation is a mandatory regulation that will be enforced on March 3, 2013. Wood furniture export companies will face new green barriers.

The purpose of the regulations is to further improve forestry management and harvesting activities and prevent the illegally harvested timber from entering the EU market. It is mainly applicable to the production of timber and its wood products within the European Union and imported from countries outside the European Union. The regulations provide for the use of timber and wood. The obligation of the operator to put the product into the EU's internal market for the first time and the obligations of the trader, the “due diligence” system is the core content of this regulation, which includes three risk management factors: information acquisition, risk assessment and risk aversion. Western countries generally regard our country as a country with high risk of illegal logging. Therefore, we must also implement “risk evasion procedures” for furniture products exported from China to the EU, and request additional information or documents for third-party verification.

With the implementation of the legislation approaching, EU importers have requested in advance to provide relevant evidence that the export of wood products enterprises in Europe has been affected.

The cost of the company has increased significantly Yuyao Guangfeng Industry & Trade Development Co., Ltd. is a Ningbo company engaged in panel furniture production company, the company responsible person Li Zong said that the new regulations will increase for them many of the original "extra work" and significantly increase production costs For example, if the sheet cost increases by nearly 50% (according to the purchase price of the MDF, the price of the previously used non-FSC-certified sheet is compared with the price of the current FSC-certified sheet), it is expected that the export product companies will increase the price by 10% this year. However, because their board suppliers are currently FSC certified, their European customers should also be able to “understand” the “reasonable” growth in product prices.

In spite of this, the worrying mood still pervades some of the heads of wooden furniture and timber companies that export to the European Union. “The specific export risk is still very difficult to predict at present,” Zhou Xiaowei, the person in charge of Ninghai Weiye Arts & Crafts Co., Ltd., reluctantly told the author. “Illegal logging does exist regardless of whether logs or timber imported from China or neighboring countries are imported. We plan to work with foreign trade companies to develop forests, contract hills, set up forest farms, and wood processing centers to avoid this risk."

At the same time, some small and micro enterprises face high-cost FSC certification and have chosen to actively explore markets in the Middle East, Africa, Southeast Asia, and South America.

As many wood products and timber products purchased by domestic small and medium-sized wood product companies originate from countries such as Russia, Malaysia, and Indonesia, these countries have more or less illegal logging problems and it is difficult to obtain forest certification. “Our small businesses can only rely on low prices to attract customers' attention. If we change the purchase of logs from so-called “ID cards” in European countries and the United States, we will lose our competitive advantage in price and it is difficult to establish a foothold in the market.” Ning Seaview Sihua Furniture Co., Ltd. According to Ren Guangfeng, general manager, the FSC certification cumbersome certification procedures, higher certification costs, and certification cycles that require certification once a year can also overwhelm some companies. “If you do not get FSC certification, companies can only abandon the EU market and resell it. Other areas."

In fact, 100% of the timber used as a raw material is difficult to obtain legitimacy or FSC certification. About 10% of the world's certified wood is wood, and less than 1% of the wood certified in the Chinese market. In addition, the standards of the institution and other countries do not recognize each other's standards, making it more difficult to obtain legality.

Accelerating the implementation of the new regulations for reshuffling the industry is a challenge and an opportunity for Mengying Furniture Exports. Enterprises believe that the new regulations will help the industry reshuffle, improve the threshold out of informal enterprises, will play a catalytic role in regulating the furniture industry.

“Because of the high demand for raw material purchases, we can now easily respond to the new orders.” Mr. Wang, general manager of Ningbo Mengying Furniture Manufacturing Co., Ltd. told the author that the company had requested several European and American customers as early as a few years ago, in accordance with high environmental protection requirements. Execution, most of the wood used was from qualified timber dealers. Imported Australian radiata pine and white oak logs all had legal certificates, FSC certificates, and could stand the test.

Due to the increasing production costs brought about by the endless new demands of wood furniture in Europe and the United States and the dual pressure of customers on the final product price, some of the powerful manufacturers have begun to move to the domestic market.

Ningbo Mengying Furniture Manufacturing Co., Ltd. has started the preparation of the Yangtze River Delta chain store since 2012. At present, its products have entered the joint venture stores in Shanghai, Hangzhou, and Ningbo. The company’s principal Mr. Wang said, “Our former products were exported to the developed markets such as the United States. In the European antique furniture, we are at the forefront of the industry, but with the continuous improvement of new environmental standards in these countries, domestic labor costs. Growth and customer reluctance to increase product prices and other factors, export business is increasingly difficult to do, profit margins are less and less, far less domestic profits, so we will vigorously open up the domestic market." As the company's products are European classical solid wood furniture, the current market conditions are still relatively optimistic, but its brand's visibility and influence are still at the initial stage. Enterprises still have many challenges to face.

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