Unite to expand UK wood market, industry told

The British-grown and importing sectors of the timber trade need to work together "as one" to increase UK timber consumption.

This was the message from John Brownlie, vice chairman of sawmillers BSW Timber, to the London Softwood Club meeting last week.

Tackling the issues of "British Softwood and its future", Mr Brownlie acknowledged that the UK-grown timber sector faced major challenges ahead. Infrastructure improvements were needed in forest areas, the industry had constantly to review its environmental performance and to meet the demands of new rules on health and safety and public access to woodland.

But, he added, the timber industry overall also had great opportunities and the potential to boost annual UK softwood consumption by 2 million m3 (around 20%) by 2010.

"The government is crying out for solutions to achieve C02 emission reductions and our industry is in a powerful position to offer a solution. It is essential that we have in place irrefutable independent scientific data to reinforce our message about the low embodied energy benefits of wood . It is imperative that our claims are resolutely defended against the rebuttles of rival materials [and are driven] home to local authorities, central and devolved government."

To achieve this, said Mr Brownlie, "the solid wood industry in the UK must come together with one voice. Importers and British producers should have one key objective; to increase market size and exploit the environmental credentials of wood. We must not create confusion in our audience with different messages." He said that the industry should build on the "sterling work" of wood. for good.

"It has shown that forest industry-resourced promotion of wood actually works. But I feel we are still only scratching the surface in terms of developing a wood culture in the UK. There is so much to go for."