CEI-Bois & FEIC defend interests of woodworking industry in Brussels

Text: Vesa Puoskari
Photos: Vesa Puoskari

"We represent and promote the furniture and wood­working industry at the European level. We monitor and propose amendments to EU legislative initiatives which could have an impact on the industries and endeavour to find a common position on issues with member organi­sations," says Filip de Jaeger, Secretary General of CEI-Bois, describing the organisation's field of work in Brussels.

CEI-Bois is the European umbrella organisation for the sector. Its members are national organisations representing the forest industry and woodworking sector organisations, such as the FEIC (European Federation of the Plywood Industry).

"The key issue at the moment is the industry's competitiveness in Europe, a focal point in the current economic situation. At the political level attention has been drawn to illegal logging, which requires active responses from interest groups, too, as it has a significant impact on companies' operations," de Jaeger says.

"Another topic of discussion has been securing wood as a raw material, which also involves the use of biomass as an energy resource and climate change issues," he adds.

CEI-Bois (European Confederation of Woodworking Industries)
Industry's production value EUR 270 billion per year.
Sector provides 2.9 million jobs.
Traditional SME sector with 380,000 member companies.

Added value to the forests

Kris Wijnendaele, Secretary-General of the FEIC, which represents European plywood manufacturers, points out that the sector brings significant added value to the forests.

"Europe's forests are managed according to the principles of sustainable development, and they grow faster than they are utilised. Wood is easy to recycle and to produce energy from at the end of its lifecycle," he says.

Wood is a recyclable raw material whose availability and market price is presumed to be more stable than that of fossil fuels, for example. On other hand, the significant growth in demand for and use of renewable raw materials, particularly in energy production, will probably affect the price of wood, too, in the future.

Filip de Jaeger
Secretary General of CEI-Bois

Kris Wijnendaele
Secretary-General of FEIC

Timber construction cuts CO₂ emissions

According to the FEIC's Secretary-General, Kris Wijnendaele, carbon dioxide in the atmosphere can be reduced by cutting emissions or by CO₂ storage. Forestry and the use of wood have a major role in reducing greenhouse gas emissions in energy production and in replacing energy-intensive materials.

"The processing of wood is highly energy-efficient. It can often replace other building materials such as steel, aluminium, concrete or plastic, the manufacture of which requires significant amounts of energy," Wijnendaele points out.

Wood is an excellent carbon reservoir. Every cubic metre of wood with which other building materials are replaced reduces carbon dioxide emissions on average by 1.1 tonnes. If the 0.9 tonnes of carbon dioxide sequestered in timber are added to this, one cubic metre of wood reduces emissions by
2.0 tonnes. Based on these calculations, a 10% increase in timber construction would decrease carbon dioxide emissions by approximately 25% in Europe − as required in the Kyoto Climate Convention. Moreover, the thermal insulation capacity of wood is significantly more efficient than that of other building materials. For example, a 2.5-cm-thick wooden wall insulates heat better than an 11.4-cm brick wall.

Import duties should remain unchanged

The organisation focuses on issues closely relating to business, such as markets. The impact of the economic downturn on the construction, packaging and transport sectors is also reflected in plywood demand. In addition, European manufacturers are struggling against cheap imports.

"Import duties are a major issue for manufacturers, as plywood is imported into Europe at very low prices. The European Commission welcomes free access to the markets, but elimination of the 7% import tax would make the position of European manufacturers even more difficult. We aim to keep taxes on imports at current levels," says Wijnendaele.

The organisation is also actively monitoring the revisions to Europe's Construction Products Directive.

"All plywoods for use in construction must bear the official CE mark. The Directive imposes obligations on manufacturers, but products which do not meet the requirements or whose markings are deficient are being im­ported into the EU. We have exerted pressure on the legislator to take this seriously, hence the new Directive takes these issues into account as well," Wijnendaele says.