In November the Conference of the Parties of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) passed motions to add additional tropical hardwood species to Appendix II. Both Ipe and Cumaru were added to CITES Appendix II with an implementation period of 24 months. However, of more immediate importance both African Mahogany and Padouk were added to CITES Appendix II with an implementation period of only 3 months.
So what does mean? Well, in general when a species is added to CITES it adds a layer of monitoring to the importing and exporting process. It is not necessarily that the species is endangered, but that it could possibly be being exploited and could end up endangered at a later date. The intent of the additional level of monitoring is to formally and properly track the volumes of use worldwide to prevent future problems.
When a species is put on the CITES list a producer is required to provide proper information to CITES in their local country to obtain the proper documentation and certificates to export the lumber.
In addition, an importer has to have what is referred to as a Protected Plant Permit in order to officially import the product and report that to CITES as well.
Fortunately, Baillie Lumber does have the proper Protect Plant Permits required to continue importing African Mahogany and Padouk for our customers. We do not expect this to impact our ability to serve our customers. Of course, when importing tropical hardwood lumber we always have to deal with supplier shortages, container issues and shipping challenges. But the addition of CITES should not impact our ability secure lumber for our customers.
From our perspective, adding these four species to CITES should help eliminate any illegal practices and weed out any unreputable providers.
As always, our international hardwood lumber procurement team works extremely hard to assure the legality of the products we supply. We import all the major species from Africa, Asia, Central, and South America and can ship directly from their country of origin, or through our US manufacturing facility in Cove City, North Carolina. We take pride in drying as many of our imported species as possible ourselves in order to ensure the best possible product and moisture content for our customers.
Contact us today to find out how we can make your tropical hardwood lumber buying simple and easy!
Jesper Bach
Baillie Lumber Co.
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Jesper Bach
Baillie Lumber Co.
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