Building materials could become much more expensive if tropical timbers from Southeast Asia, used in flooring, plywood, decking, and furniture, are added to the species protected by CITES. The wood in question is Keruing—one of hardwood’s best-kept secrets—with the tropical species (native to Indonesia and Malaysia) sold extensively in Australia’s building merchant network.
“Keruing timber is low maintenance, hardwearing and ideal for outdoor furniture use,” according to WoodSolutions – Australia’s go-to resource for technical information, with the strong and durable wood used in various applications.
“Common uses include internal flooring, protected framing and boards, internal joinery and mouldings, lining, panelling and framework. (Whilst) preservative-treated material is (also) used for poles, piles, sleepers and cross-arms. It is often used as a cheaper alternative to oak for heavy construction, decking, vehicle building and sleepers, and in plywood.”
Keruing is a hardwood native to South East Asia and used in a wide variety of internal and external applications – according to WoodSolutions.
Used by the US Military in floorboards, tanks, and vehicles, the Malaysian supply chain is concerned that the United States (and the European Union) are behind a renewed push to add the timbers to the CITES Appendix II list.
It comes as Wood Central last year reported that the US Hardwood Federation has lobbied the Trump administration to replace Keruing (and Apitong) with American Red oak, arguing that new prototypes last five times longer than tropical timbers.
“As part of this shift, the National Defense Authorization Act has now classified Apitong as endangered and calls for a transition to domestically sourced Red Oak for trailer beds and vehicle floorboards. Congress (has already) emphasised that Apitong, sourced from tropical rainforests, is unsustainable. A bipartisan group of senators has urged the Department of Defence to accelerate the switch, citing Red Oak’s environmental benefits,” according to a US Hardwood Federation letter to the US Fish and Wildlife Service last year.
According to the EU, more than 5.3 million tonnes of Meranti timber products –sold as mouldings by Australian merchants – have been sold in the world over the decade to 2023 – with overharvesting to meet high demand the primary reason that 65% of species are threatened, and 86% have seen declining numbers: “This raises serious questions about the future availability of these species and the need for stronger trade controls,” according to a spokesperson who spoke of the push to add the species to the CITES listing last year.
Last year, Wood Central today spoke to an expert connected to the supply chain who said the push to add Keruing (and Apitong) to the CITES list could have major implications for the Australian supply of much-needed construction materials – given the push by the Victorian, WA and (now) NSW state governments to lock up supply of hardwood timbers:
“At a time when the United States is freeing up production of its forests, Australia is locking ourselves out of our resource. This leaves our supply of plywood, mouldings, sleepers and other timber products vulnerable and almost entirely reliant on tropical timber from Asia.”
A timber expert, who spoke to Wood Central about the impact of the CITES decision on Australia’s supply of timbers used in plywood, mouldings and sleepers.
- To read more about the impact of the CITES ruling on the global supply of tropical timbers, click here for Wood Central’s feature.
