A new trading platform to assist buyers of timber in sourcing legal or certified products from all over the world has been launched.

BVRio Environmental Exchange has launched today the Responsible Timber Exchange to facilitate the screening of timber products and their supply chains.

The index, which features a due diligence system, aims to facilitate the procurement of responsible timber products and increase liquidity, supply and demand for this market segment while promoting transparency, legality and sustainability.

The platform will also feature optional services such as grading and quality control, field audits and due diligence, receivables finance, insurance and logistics.

BVRio said it believed the tool would be particularly useful to buyers and traders operating in Europe and the US, where they have to ensure compliance with the EU Timber Regulation and the US Lacey Act, reducing their exposure to the illegal timber trade.

The system was originally designed to screen Brazilian timber but the UK government has helped adapt it to screen responsible timber from West Africa, starting with Ghana, and Peru.

It is ready to screen responsible timber products from the Brazilian Amazon, Indonesia (based on the newly issued FLEGT licenses), as well as FSC and PEFC certified products from around the world.

BVRio has highlighted the high risk of timber illegality in Brazil, where it is estimated that more than 50% of timber comes from illegal sources.

A Supply Management release