Vietnam's furniture industry accused of using illegal timber

Vietnam has become a hub for processing large quantities of illegal timber from the region and used in its burgeoning furniture industry, according to a report released on March 19 by the non-profit organization Environmental Investigation Agency. 

EIA and its Indonesian partner Telapak conducted the investigation, which includes filming and undercover visits to Vietnamese furniture factories. 

With the crackdowns on the illegal timber trade in countries like Indonesia, some criminal networks are now looting the vanishing forests of Laos, the EIA said. The Laos government ordered a ban on the export of logs in 1999. This law is largely ignored by Vietnamese traders who use corrupt means to import vast quantities of hardwood logs. 

In the Vietnamese port of Vinh, EIA and Telapak investigators witnessed piles of logs from Laos awaiting sale. At a single border crossing, 45 trucks loaded with logs were counted lining up on the Laos side waiting to cross into Vietnam. EIA and Telapak estimated that at least 500,000 cubic meters of logs move illegally from Laos to Vietnam each year. 

The EIA noted in its release that Vietnamese furniture exports reached $2.4 billion in 2007, a 10-fold increase since 2000, making the country the fourth-largest wood products exporter. The United States is the largest market for Vietnamese wooden furniture, importing more than $1 billion in 2007, or 45 percent of total exports. 

It is not illegal in the United States to import illegally sourced wood products, but Capitol Hill lawmakers are considering legislation to create such a ban. 

Importers and retailers in the United States must take responsibility for buying stolen timber, said EIA Executive Director Alexander von Bismarck, in a statement. "Until the U.S. stops importing illegally logged wood, the destruction of the world's last tropical forests will continue. 

The EIA/Telapak report, Borderlines: Vietnam's booming furniture industry and timber smuggling in the Mekong region, along images of illegal use of Laos timber in Vietnam, is available online at www.eia-international.org. 

Source: American shipper