Tropical Hardwood Logs (Plantation Teak & Licensed Sources)

Plantation teak and legally exported tropical logs, only from origins where log exports are lawful

Tropical hardwood logs are the most legality-sensitive wood trade there is, and the first question is not the price but whether the log may leave the country at all. Many producing countries ban the export of unprocessed logs to keep the sawmilling and plywood work at home: Indonesia has banned log exports since 2001; Peninsular Malaysia banned saw log exports completely in 1985, while Sarawak runs an export quota instead; Gabon banned log exports in 2010; Cameroon banned the export of 76 timber species in 2024 with a phase-out that began in January 2025; and under a 2024 directive of the Central African Economic and Monetary Community its members agreed to end the export of unprocessed timber by 1 January 2028. Other countries have their own log export ban policies, and a ban announced is not always a ban enforced, so the status is checked at the origin's forestry authority before any offer. Where round logs do leave the Pacific, the trade is mostly to China and carries a high risk of illegality at the point of harvest, and CBIL does not offer logs from origins where that risk cannot be closed on paper. UN Comtrade 2024 export declarations under HS 4403.49 (other tropical logs) total only USD 100 million across the reporters in the pull, led by Malaysia (40.1%), with Colombia, Peru, Costa Rica and Ecuador among the next reporters, and several log-exporting countries do not report to the database at all.

The legal trade CBIL works is plantation teak and licensed, documented tropical logs. Panama, Ecuador and Costa Rica are the leading shippers of teak logs, and India takes most of the world's teak trade: Ecuador's exporters send around 95% of their teak to India. The buyers are sawmills and veneer mills in India and Asia, and timber traders who resaw for furniture, decking and boatbuilding. CBIL is a commodity brokerage company and brokers these logs between plantation owners and licensed exporters and importing mills, loaded in 40-ft containers, on FOB, CFR and CIF terms, per m³ on girth class and length. Species listed under CITES are never offered, with or without permits. Every lot carries the harvest and transport permits of the origin, a phytosanitary certificate and fumigation certificate where the importer requires it, FSC chain-of-custody certificates where claimed, the EU Deforestation Regulation data including plot geolocation for EU destinations (applying to large and medium operators from 30 December 2026), a FLEGT licence where the origin runs a licensing scheme, and a Lacey Act declaration for the USA.

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.