Sawn Hardwood (Oak, Ash, Walnut & Legal Tropical)

American and European oak, ash and walnut by NHLA or EN 975 grade, plus licensed tropical sawn timber

Sawn hardwood is bought on species, thickness, grade and drying. American hardwood is sold in random widths and lengths, measured in board feet and cut in quarter-inch thicknesses (4/4, 5/4, 6/4, 8/4), and graded under the National Hardwood Lumber Association (NHLA) rules on the yield of clear cuttings from the poorer face of each board: FAS (First and Seconds) needs boards at least 6 inches wide and 8 feet long yielding 83 1/3% clear cuttings, Select meets FAS on one face on a smaller minimum board, No.1 Common yields 66 2/3% and No.2A Common 50%. European oak and beech are graded on appearance under EN 975-1, and tropical sawn timber is graded under the producing country's rules, such as the Malaysian Grading Rules for meranti. Furniture, flooring and joinery stock is kiln-dried to the moisture the finished product will live at, commonly 6-10% for heated interiors, lower than structural softwood. UN Comtrade 2024 export declarations put the USA at 1.375 million m³ of oak (HS 4407.91) at an average USD 633/m³ and 0.174 million m³ of ash at USD 689/m³; Croatia at 0.201 million m³ of oak at USD 1,007/m³ and 0.615 million m³ of beech; France at 0.172 million m³ of oak at USD 1,044/m³; and Germany at 0.384 million m³ of beech at USD 549/m³. In tropical sawn timber not separately listed (HS 4407.29) Thailand declared 4.29 million m³ at USD 310/m³ and Malaysia 0.33 million m³ at USD 469/m³.

The buyers are furniture and cabinet factories, flooring and stair manufacturers, door and window joinery plants, boat and interior fit-out shops, and hardwood distributors who break bundles for smaller users. CBIL is a commodity brokerage company and brokers sawn hardwood between sawmills, concentration yards and exporters on one side and importers and manufacturers on the other, against the buyer's species, grade, thickness and moisture specification, with a tally or pack list per bundle. Hardwood moves in strapped bundles of one thickness and grade, loaded into 40-ft containers, on FOB, CFR and CIF terms. Legality is a condition of shipment: FSC or PEFC chain-of-custody certificates where the buyer requires them; the EU Deforestation Regulation data, including geolocation, for EU destinations; UK Timber Regulation due diligence for Great Britain; a Lacey Act declaration for the USA; a FLEGT licence on Indonesian timber products into the EU; and a phytosanitary certificate where the importing country requires it, with ISPM-15 marking on any wood packaging. Species listed under CITES are never offered, with or without permits, and neither are excluded origins. Import duties and trade remedies differ by destination and are the buyer's check.

Excluded origins are not offered, including product re-exported, blended or re-processed through a third country. Every lot moves with a certificate of origin naming the producing plant, mine or grower country, and nothing is quoted before the seller and loading point are known.