Market Data

Key to the development and growth of the European sustainable tropical timber market is accurate information on the trade. This provides the foundation for and informs campaigns and initiatives to increase sustainable tropical timber procurement, which, in turn can drive uptake of sustainable forest management in tropical countries.

Below you will find details of data provided by STTC and links to other information sources.

Currently (2020) only an estimated 31 to 36% of European primary and a selection of secondary tropical timber product imports are exposed to certification of sustainable forest management. That’s according to IDH and STTC partner, forest and timber sustainability analyst and advisor, Probos and GTF, the Global Timber Forum.

So there remains, considerable scope for market share growth, even in countries such as the UK and the Netherlands, where there are already high levels of environmental awareness and commitment on sustainability issues. In fact, if the EU 27 plus the UK, imported exclusively verified sustainable tropical timber products it would have positively impacted over 16 million hectares of semi and natural tropical forests and reduced CO2 emissions significantly in 2020. See the report ‘Europe’s sourcing of verified tropical timber and its impact on forests: What Next? ’ for full details and individual country data.

The STTC’s ambition is to increase the share taken by verified sustainable tropical timber. Fundamental to achieving that is to gather and disseminate accurate, current market data. Analysis of the numbers on trade flows, what products are supplied from which sources and where they do and don’t sell, is not only key to shaping policy and targeting market promotion and education initiatives. It is also vital for measuring success.

Data sources

In 2018 the STTC published an initial report, ‘How sustainable are Europe’s tropical timber imports?’, with data to 2016. In 2019 the report Unlocking Sustainable Tropical Timber Market Growth Through Data was published focussing on primary tropical wood products. The 2020 follow-up report Understanding sustainable secondary tropical wood products through data focuses on secondary tropical wood products. Published late 2021, the report ‘Europe’s sourcing of verified tropical timber and its impact on forests: What Next?’ covers both primary and a selection of secondary timber products (likely to contain wood from natural tropical forests).

There are various other data sources available on tropical timber trade flows, with some including data on verified sustainable timber. These have a narrower focus, but include information on such aspects as national initiatives to demonstrate procurement policies are met (see table below).