{"id":476016,"date":"2026-02-12T22:49:11","date_gmt":"2026-02-12T22:49:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/476016\/"},"modified":"2026-02-12T22:49:11","modified_gmt":"2026-02-12T22:49:11","slug":"consumers-back-call-for-country-of-origin-labels-on-timber-sold-in-australia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/476016\/","title":{"rendered":"Consumers back call for country-of-origin labels on timber sold in Australia"},"content":{"rendered":"

Consumers say they want country-of-origin labelling on wood products sold in Australia, as more timber is shipped in from overseas.<\/p>\n

Timber imports have hit record levels<\/a>, continuing to rise after the pandemic-era jump in demand for building materials.<\/p>\n

A recent survey by consumer group Choice showed nearly all buyers want information about the timber they are purchasing.<\/p>\n

“People care about making choices that benefit the environment and are less destructive than other options,” Choice reporter Jarni Blakkarly said.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

Demand for construction material remains high in Australia. (ABC News: Luke Bowden)<\/p>\n

Choice surveyed more than 7,200 people, with 99 per cent of respondents wanting to know where and how a timber product was sourced.<\/p>\n

Nearly all of those surveyed said country-of-origin information would sway their buying behaviour.<\/p>\n

Mr Blakkarly said clear labelling laws allow shoppers to vote with their wallets.<\/p>\n

“Our survey showed people care about this information,” he said.<\/p>\n

\"Piles<\/p>\n

Choice says consumers want to know where their timber originates from. (ABC Rural: Warwick Long)<\/p>\n

Laminated veneer lumber (LVL) is a widely used engineered wood product made up of layers of timber.<\/p>\n

In Senate hearings this week, Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics and Sciences (ABARES) staff reported that LVL imports alone had risen 40 per cent in the year to 2023-24.<\/p>\n

About 120,000 cubic metres of LVL were imported in 2022-23, and 167,000 cubic metres the following year.<\/p>\n

ABARES said about half the imported LVL came from China, while Malaysia and Indonesia each supplied about 10 per cent.<\/p>\n

Origin labelling ‘urgently needed’<\/p>\n

The Australian Forest Products Association (AFPA) has been calling for timber labelling reform for several years and is encouraged by the Choice survey.<\/p>\n

“If consumers are the loudest voice in this, then I’m sure we’ll get there,” AFPA chief executive Diana Hallam said.<\/p>\n

\"Woman<\/p>\n

Diana Hallam says better timber labelling gives buyers more information and supports the local industry. (Supplied: Australian Forest Products Association)<\/p>\n

Ms Hallam said the current laws are not strong enough and it was clear that consumers and commercial builders want more.<\/p>\n

“There will always be demand for both hardwood and softwood in Australia,” Ms Hallam said.<\/p>\n

“If we aren’t supplying those types of timbers, then their only options are to be imported.<\/p>\n

“In the case of hardwood timbers, if you don’t want to harvest them from sustainably managed forests in Australia \u2026 then which forests do you want them to come from?”\"A<\/p>\n

A significant volume of timber is imported to Australia from Malaysia. (Supplied: Jarni Blakkarly, Choice)<\/p>\n

Australia introduced laws in 2012 to combat illegal logging, and timber importers must maintain records and meet due diligence requirements.<\/p>\n

But wholesalers and retailers are not required to provide that information to buyers.<\/p>\n

Ms Hallam said recent federal government surveys uncovered imported timber that failed traceability testing.<\/p>\n

“We also found a survey that revealed five layers of laminated veneer lumber coming in from China actually contained Russian timber \u2014 a banned product,” she said.<\/p>\n

Imported wood products were also stamped to indicate they met Australian standards, a practice that Ms Hallam said obscured the timber’s origins.<\/p>\n

Logging has ‘real-world’ impact overseas<\/p>\n

Malaysia once had one of the world’s highest rates of deforestation.<\/p>\n

While tree loss has fallen to near-record lows and the Malaysian government has cracked down on illegal logging, communities are still feeling the impact of timber harvesting.<\/p>\n

Mr Blakkarly travelled to the Malaysian state of Sarawak, on Borneo, to trace the origins of timber products sold in Australia.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Villagers in the Baram region of Sarawak, in Malaysian Borneo, say their timber comes at a social cost. (Jarni Blakkarly: CHOICE)<\/p>\n

Loggers often operate with government permits, but without the consent of communities, Mr Blakkarly said.<\/p>\n

He said he saw villagers forming blockades to stop machinery from taking more of the jungle.<\/p>\n

“These are Indigenous communities that are trying to live and maintain a traditional way of life; they gather a lot of food and medicines from the jungles,” Mr Blakkarly said.<\/p>\n

“They’re really wanting to push back and try and stop that logging.<\/p>\n

“They’re wanting to highlight to people like Australian consumers that there is this real-world impact to them and their livelihoods.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Consumers say they want country-of-origin labelling on wood products sold in Australia, as more timber is shipped in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":476017,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[64,63,242438,22674,99,11276,11758,5426,7688,242439,90932,12654],"class_list":["post-476016","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-australian-forest-products-association","tag-building","tag-business","tag-choice","tag-construction","tag-forests","tag-housing","tag-labelling-laws","tag-logging","tag-timber"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/476016","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=476016"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/476016\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/476017"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=476016"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=476016"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=476016"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}