Representatives from the State Forestry Administration of China (SFA) called on countries worldwide to adopt China Forest Certification Council (CFCC) certified products in their national procurement policies. Source: Financial Post
This call was made during the recent Chinese Academy of Forestry (CAF) hosted ‘Responsible Procurement in China’s Forest Products (Pulp and Paper), Certification Workshop 2012’ held in Shenzhen, China.
According to China’s 12th Five-Year Plan for China’s Paper Industry, China has become the world’s number one nation in terms of paper manufacturing and consumption, yet in the past few years, the absence of a recognized forest certification scheme in the country posed severe challenges to the trade of its forestry products overseas.
CFCC is being progressively and systematically promoted within China’s forestry industry and the CFCC scheme is set to facilitate forest certification practices in China according to government sources.
As one of the world’s leading forest certification system, PEFC serves as a lineage between CFCC and the global market. According to the Director of PEFC China Initiative Benson Yu, CFCC joined PEFC in 2011, which was regarded as an important milestone for China’s forest certification system towards gaining international recognition, while its next step of applying for PEFC endorsement is expected in the near future.
According to figures from the Zhonglin Tianhe (Beijing) Forest Certification Center, there are currently eight forestry enterprises and two forestry product processing companies that have been granted CFCC certification, which includes APP-China.
