Certification in the garden

The demand for FSC garden products, especially for garden furniture, is on the increase in the European Union. At the same time internal production is currently unable to satisfy the market, so the EU relies mainly on imports. This emerges from the FSC Newsletter, in which the FSC’s Germany team refers to a survey by the Confederation of British Industry (CBI), which deals with the market situation for FSC garden articles in Europe. This reveals that the proportion of imported wood products from developing countries increased to twelve per cent between 2002 and 2006. Germany, the Netherlands and Britain lead the field when it comes to the purchase of FSC certified products. DIY superstores play an extremely important role in the sale of garden products with FSC certification. Further information on this survey, and on the complementary study “The EU market for timber and timber articles”, which contains relatively general data, can be found on the CBI’s website.