HCM CITY —Eliminating illegal timber from supply chains and the global timber trade requires the use of best practices and tools that can precisely identify illegal products, experts said at a two-day workshop held during the third APEC Senior Officials Meeting (SOM-3), which began yesterday in HCM City. Made-in-Việt Nam timber and wood products are available in more than 90 countries and territories, meeting strict standards and technical requirements of importing countries, especially for legal timber and timber products, he added. As an economy that both imports and exports timber and timber products, the Government attaches great importance to prevention of illegal timber trade, Hà said. APEC Economies account for around 53 per cent of the world’s forests, 60 per cent of global production of timber products, and 80 per cent of global trade in timber products. However, illegal timber trade accounted for 10 to 30 per cent of global timber trade, with an annual value of $100 billion-$300 billion.

Source: Viet Nam News August 19, 2017 00:00 UTC