Chain of custody certification involvement by the British Columbia value-added wood products sector

Abstract

Chain of custody (CoC) certification has had a growing influence on markets for wood products in recent decades. However, it has experienced limited uptake, particularly among the wood products manufacturing sector. This paper describes the results of a survey conducted in the province of British Columbia (BC) aimed at investigating the adoption of CoC certification in the BC value-added wood products sector. The survey was conducted in the fall of 2013 to determine the level of CoC adoption amongst a selection of value-added wood products manufacturer and to identify their future intentions towards CoC certification. BC value-added wood products manufacturers that are currently engaged in chain of certification tend largely to be firms located in the urban areas of the province. The highest level of adoption was found to be among remanufacturers. Of the respondents, 41% were certified and another 13% of the companies were interested in becoming certified in the next 5 years. The remaining 46% were not certified and not interested in certification, citing a range of barriers including lack of customer demand, high costs of certification, and a lack of price premiums.