Sawn Timber & Plywood

Wood products are bought on specification and on paper. Sawn softwood is ordered by species, size, moisture and grade: kiln-dried spruce, pine and fir at 12-18% moisture, strength graded to EN 338 classes such as C16 and C24 with a stamp on each piece, or visually graded as Nordic unsorted, fifths and sixths, or as North American SPF No.2 & Better. Sawn hardwood is ordered on the NHLA clear-cutting grades (FAS, Select, No.1 Common) for American oak, ash and walnut, on EN 975-1 for European oak and beech, and dried lower for furniture and flooring. Plywood is ordered on bond class (EN 314-2, EN 636), face grade (EN 635), formaldehyde class (E1, CARB Phase 2) and core species. UN Comtrade 2024 export declarations put sawn wood (HS 4407) at USD 28.2 billion and 44.6 million MT across the reporters in the pull, led by Canada (23.6%), Sweden (13.7%), the USA (9.6%), Germany (9.2%) and Finland (7.3%), and plywood and laminated wood (HS 4412) at USD 13.65 billion and 14.63 million MT, led by China (38.6%), Indonesia (12.9%) and Brazil (6.1%).

CBIL is a commodity brokerage company and brokers sawn timber and plywood between sawmills, panel mills and their export agents on one side and construction and formwork contractors, builders' merchants, joinery, furniture and cabinet plants, packaging and pallet makers and timber distributors on the other. Timber moves in strapped, marked bundles and plywood in strapped crates, loaded into 40-ft containers or, for large Nordic and North American softwood volumes, as breakbulk, on FOB, CFR and CIF terms. Timber is a legality-heavy commodity and the documents are conditions of shipment: FSC or PEFC chain-of-custody certificates where the buyer requires them; EU Deforestation Regulation data including harvest geolocation for EU destinations; UK Timber Regulation due diligence for Great Britain; a Lacey Act declaration for the USA; FLEGT licences on Indonesian timber products into the EU; and phytosanitary certificates and ISPM-15 packaging where required. Species listed under CITES and excluded origins are never offered, and anti-dumping duties, which apply to plywood and softwood lumber in several markets, are the buyer's check before contract.