To increase its supply of FSC certified material in Romania, IKEA is facilitating FSC certification of supply chain companies and forests in the country. NEPCon recently issued 25 FSC chain of custody certificates resulting from this effort.
Earlier this year, IKEA initiated a process to fill in the gaps in its supply chain in Romania. This enables IKEA to source more FSC certified furniture whilst bolstering responsible forestry in the country.
Missing links
Romania is one of IKEA’s major wood product sourcing countries. Pursuing its responsible wood sourcing policy, IKEA has taken an active stance to fostering FSC certification in the country.
In a previous project, IKEA and WWF worked together to support the FSC certification of 2.2 million hectares of Romanian forest in 2013.
However, a bottleneck of non-certified companies in the supply chain remains. This is why IKEA still needs to increase its FSC certified supplies.
Most Romanian furniture makers that are direct IKEA suppliers hold FSC chain of custody (CoC) certification. However, only few processing industries and traders in the country are certified. There are typically several links between the forest and the furniture maker. So despite a good supply base of FSC certified timber, the furniture makers lack access to FSC certified raw materials.
To solve this issue, IKEA is facilitating FSC certification of further companies and forests in the country.
A streamlined process
Initially, three independent Romanian consultants passed NEPCon’s FSC Expert Course. Equipped with knowledge, they helped Romanian wood industries to prepare for FSC CoC certification.
IKEA identified sub-suppliers to take part in the project. In November 2014, the companies attended two seminars to learn about the FSC rules.
This was followed by FSC audits conducted by NEPCon in the first half of 2015.
In September 2015, 25 companies had earned FSC CoC certification. The certified companies include logging companies, traders and primary producers such as sawmills.
Added business value
For the companies, the value of the FSC certificate extends beyond meeting IKEA’s demands.
One of them is SC Tonnellerie Margo SRL, a specialist in production of quality oak barrels and staves mostly for export to Europe and North America.
The family-run business employs over 130 people in two production sites in Arad County in western Romania. An FSC audit conducted by NEPCon in March 2015 led to their FSC CoC certification.
Larisa Alexandra Vulturar, the company’s laywer and FSC certification coordinator, is delighted: „The certificate proves that we are committed to responsible sourcing of wood for our fine products. We believe this will bring new added value for our business, besides excellent product quality. It will help our company to become even more successful on demanding markets.“
Forest operations next in line
Despite the large area of certified forest in Romania, some supply issues of certified timber remain as the certified forests are unevenly distributed across the country. The IKEA project seeks to address this issue as well by engaging further forest operations in FSC certification.
NEPCon plans to conduct FSC audits of three forest operations in the western and northwestern part of the country.
In the absence of a national FSC standard, the audits will be conducted against the NEPCon Interim Forest Management Standard.
Alexandru Orban is NEPCon‘s manager in Romania. "We are happy to support IKEA in their sustainabilty efforts," he says. He also stresses the project’s wider benefits: "FSC certification of our forests bolsters responsible forestry in Romania. And other industries beyond IKEA will benefit from increased availability of FSC certified timber."
Pictures: Marcela Man and Michal Rezek.