Benefits to UK merchants of stocking wide range of hardwoods

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ITTO/Fordaq
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The first edition of the UK Timber Trade Federation’s Merchant News includes an article focusing on the challenges and opportunities in the UK hardwood trade. The article seeks to answer the question “Are merchants missing out on business by not making available a selection of sustainably-grown hardwoods from around the world”? 

The article highlights how the market for hardwoods in the UK is constrained by the costs to merchants of holding a diverse range of expensive stock as well as by lack of knowledge of end-users of the wide range of species available.

The article quotes John Dowd, Specialised Product Category Director at International Timber,one of the UK’s largest hardwood importers: “For many merchants the main difficulty is not having sufficient space to carry the ideal inventory: boards may not be the right width or length for bespoke joinery work, for example.

The main hardwood species we find demand for are American white oak, sapele, meranti, European oak, beech, and, for decking, bangkirai. One or two merchants succeed by keeping a small stock of hardwoods on the ground in-branch, but sawn hardwood lumber can be expensive to stock“.

Commenting on the main hardwood species available to UK buyers and their respective uses, Chris Bowen-Davies, Key Accounts Manager at Brooks Bros Timber, notes that: “In terms of African hardwoods, sapele is our largest seller. It’s a good all-rounder for external and internal use, with reasonable density and good machining capabilities.

It’s good for paint application too. Utile is still favoured as it tends to be more stable than many external hardwoods.

“Iroko is classed as Very Durable and lasts well in outdoor situations. It can be used for example as cill sections or for other outdoor joinery. It can also be used in boatbuilding and garden furniture, as well as for marine work,” Brooks’ Chris Bowen-Davies says. “idigbo is another durable material, but it needs a primer coat before any top paint coat is applied. Its availability from legal and sustainable sources can be somewhat erratic.

Travelling further round the globe, meranti, which comes from Se Asia, is a very popular joinery hardwood used in window and door manufacturing. It paints satisfactorily but its density can vary considerably.”

The article notes that UK merchants are seeing a sales benefit from stocking the more familiar types of hardwood, in defined ranges to suit particular market segments, as Business Development Director at builders’ merchants MGM Timber, relates: “We stock a range of hardwood mouldings in our branches.

European oak mouldings match the current fashion for Oak flooring, joinery and kitchens. We also stock meranti mouldings for the replacement market, including skirtings, architraves and window cill sections.

“The market for hardwood mouldings is very wideranging, from the enthusiastic DIYer to builders and joiners involved in RMI, window fitters and even housebuilders.

Local housebuilders want to increase the value of the homes they build by providing a high quality finish, which is where hardwood mouldings come in,” Grant Wilson says.

Grant Wilson also notes that “ensuring sustainable sourcing is of primary importance on hardwoods”, and this is a theme also highlighted by TTF Managing Director David Hopkins. Hopkins particularly emphasises the role of the FLEGT VPA process which is seen as having strong market development potential in the UK.

According to Hopkins, “FLEGT licensing is a mechanism for ensuring the legality of harvesting and supply at country-level, whereas the two main certification schemes license at individual forest and producer level.

Merchants should watch the FLEGT space as a number of African countries are going through the licensing process, which will eventually make more species available for purchase under EUTR rules.”

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