Your International Timber Solution
This is part of Forest Trend’s Timber Regulation Enforcement Exchange ( TREE ) initiative.
The delegation were given a presentation on Tradelink’s Due Diligence System and Procedures and here from us our challenges on implementation and maintaining such systems.
Tradelink Compliance Officer, Robbie Weich, attended the Global Timber Forum’s Latin America Summit, in Lima Peru last week. Robbie also was representing AIMEX, the Association for Exporters in the state of Pará, Brazil.
The Summit marks the first time that representatives of national and regional associations representing the wood product industries across Latin America are convening to examine the shared challenges and opportunities of responsible trade.
The Summit is organised by Global Timber Forum (GTF) with support from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), through the FAO and European Union (EU) Forest Law Enforcement, Governance and Trade (FLEGT) Program. It happened over two days with sixty delegates representing many of the small and medium sized businesses across the wood products industry of Latin America.
Important areas for discussion during the Summit included competitiveness and access to markets; impact of new and emerging regulation; regional trade flow data; incentives for forest conservation; efficient traceability systems and independent forest monitoring.
The conference participants also reviewed examples of governments, communities and business working together towards responsible trade in the region. These included Voluntary Partnership Agreements (VPA) with the European Union (EU) by Honduras and Guyana; the Inter-Sectorial Pact for Wood in Colombia; the community technical units in Peru designated as veedores or custodians of the forest with technical functions; the traceability systems in Guatemala and Honduras; and the alliance to stop illegal logging between Belize and Guatemala.
More info on the Summit can be found here.
Tradelink Wood Products Ltd CEO Herman Schey called for a two year transition period to allow businesses in the UK and the EU to adjust after the terms of the Brexit negotiations are finalised. Mr Schey feels that a deal will probably be reached during the remaining 18 months for negotiation but that we won’t know for sure what that deal will be until it is ratified by the member states of the EU and the UK Parliament. A two year transition period confirmed soon would allow UK businesses and those in the EU dealing with the UK, the flexibility to plan and save costs once the deal is finalised. In the absence of clarity during the negotiations, and faced with very little time once the deal is ratified, there is concern that businesses in the UK will take costly decisions soon which may prove to be unnecessary and/or will not be in the UK’s long term interest.
Tradelink will be prepared for whatever happens in these Brexit negotiations and our international structure is well established.
We have our head office in London and an established presence in each of the countries we operate in and we will strengthen our presence in the remaining EU countries. In the absence of a transition arrangement any structural decisions, like converting Branch Offices to full Companies will be taken by the end of Q1 2018.
We ship direct from source to the importing countries and the only trade issues that concern us in the UK now are duties and tariffs for timber products we source from the EU and for the sale of these products from UK stocks to Ireland.
The Channel 4 News feature can be seen at the link below. Note correction: The comments at the end of the video about opening new offices in the EU need clarification. We are at present looking to open new companies in the EU at our existing offices.
https://www.channel4.com/news/gove-says-cabinet-united-on-brexit-transition-deal
Our Tradelink USA & Tradelink Canada management, together with and our Group Compliance officer, Robbie Weich, were at The Surfaces Trade Fair during mid January 2017.The International Surface Event (TISE) is the largest North American event serving the floorcovering, stone & tile industries. It is held annually each year in Las Vegas, TISE is always a great opportunity for us meet some of our clients and see the latest products, trends, services and technologies in the hardwood flooring sector.
More info of the show can be found at https://tisewest.com/.
The Timber Exporters’ Association of Malaysia is one of the oldest and biggest timber trade associations in the West Malaysia.They made a study Mission to South Africa in September 2016. The objective of the mission was to meet up with major importers of Malaysian timber in order to to discuss the current market situation, issues pertaining to the trade, certifications etc. For the past 60 over years, it has been working towards bridging the communication between private sector and policy making agencies. The feedback received during the visit was to be presented to the Government to formulate policies that will further enhance the trade.
Tradelink was delighted to receive the mission in both Durban and Cape Town.
Standing from left to right in front of Malaysian Timber in Tradelink’s Cape Town Warehouse: