The ranks of ETIC, the new European Timber Industries Confederation, are widening with the membership of SEFB, the French Organisation of Forest Operators, an independent and responsible professional Organisation which today represents - with a cumulative Pre-tax turnover of 340 million € and the annual mobilisation of more than 5,200,000 m3 - the vast majority of French forest operators.

"All our members and the members of the General Council join me in wishing SEFB a warm welcome in ETIC, its joining honours us and strengthens us! Our efforts and our arguments have paid off and the membership of the largest French Organisation of forest operators is a clear proof of this. Since now, we are delighted to accompany and support the SEFB, its President and its team - in Brussels and in Europe - in all the initiatives intended to counter any attempt at disinformation about our sector, to promote the European woodworking Industry and urgently restore to it the leading role it deserves. ”, says Vítor Manuel Poças, President of ETIC.

For David Caillouel, President of SEFB, “Membership of ETIC has become obvious and a necessity at a time when disinformation campaigns are developing with the European Commission on the breakdown of resources between processors and traders and at a moment when the French Government has just brought the case before the European Commission to obtain a moratorium on exports of logs outside the EU, contrary to the entrepreneurial and trading freedom.

By joining ETIC, SEFB intends to:

  • bring to the European attention the voice of forest operators whose role is essential in the optimal development of the resource and its marketing by favouring access to the harvests, at market price, to European operators
  • allow a constructive dialogue at European level between the various actors of the timber industry, from forest operators to rank 1 and 2 processors
  • providing full transparency to European Parliament members and European Commission officials about the realities of the European woodworking sector and its resources availability
  • contribute to the harmonious development of the European Timber Industry, while concrete respecting and renewing our forests.  ”

 

About ETIC

Established in Brussels in May 2021, ETIC is the European Timber Industries Confederation.

The Organization is entrusted with the mission of acting as a close and dynamic interlocutor of the European Institutions, especially at a time when, as never before, the timber industry deserves to be listened to and considered as a fundamental partner. in the transformation of European economic models currently underway.

In addition to its role of representative to the European Institutions, ETIC develops for its members a wide range of concrete services and in particular the provision of a "Certification Platform" for wood-based products, aimed at validating sustainability. from all the stages of transformation of the raw material, to the finished product.

Created under the initiative of a few leading national players in the timber Industry, the ETIC membership is gradually expanding, allowing the Confederation to boast an ever wider European geographic representativeness.

About SEFB

Created on the 10 of March 2016, the SEFB, Organisation of the Forest Operators (formerly SFB), brings together in a constructive and unifying spirit the vast majority of French forest operators-traders, representing a cumulative turnover of € 340 million and the mobilization of more than 5 million m3, with a triple objective:

  1. Defend the profession of forest operators, an essential hub for a full optimisation of forest resources, which are now threatened, by recreating a forest-operator card
  2. Guarantee, in a win-win spirit, equal and transparent access for all to forest resources through:
    1. the return to sales of standing timber
    2. a labelling by lot and not by company of French oaks with the establishment of "quantity credits"
    3. Preferential contracts giving priority to processors at the same price on timber likely to be exported
  3. Develop an harmonious vision of the Timber Industry Sector taking into account the expectations and needs of the various stakeholders (owners, experts, operators, processors, exporters, etc.), in order to preserve its balance, perpetuate our forests and ensure their sustainable management.