The American Forest & Paper Association (AF&PA) serves to advance US paper and wood products manufacturers through fact-based public policy and marketplace advocacy.
A spokesperson told us: “What’s concerning for our industry is how EUDR will be implemented, especially its strict geolocation traceability requirements. These could pose technical trade barriers for US companies based on our complex supply chain and fibre flow process.
“EU manufacturers won’t receive the supply of speciality pulp required if US pulp and paper manufacturers can’t overcome the technical barriers of the traceability requirement.”
Brazilian pulp
Suzano – the largest pulp manufacturer in the world, that has recently taken a 15% stake in Lenzing, welcomed the legislation, but believes further detail is required to ensure full compliance.
Stefan Pinter, Suzano’s Head of Public Policy EMEA, says: “As a business that has put a lot of effort into traceability and sustainability in our forestry operations and supply chain, we welcome the European Union’s leadership in combating deforestation and view this as an opportunity to showcase our state-of-the-art operations and strong sustainability credentials.
“We’d greatly appreciate receiving the missing necessary technical specifications and systems to enable us to provide all required data, such as geolocation information, to demonstrate that all our products imported into the EU are EUDR compliant and deforestation-free.”
The EUDR demands that customs authorities must check 9 per cent of products coming from countries at “high risk” of deforestation and 3 per cent from “standard risk” countries. Due to the on-going pressure from producer countries, however, the commission has agreed that all countries will be categorised as “standard risk” in the first instance.
As we write here, there’s been no response from the EU to the concerns of producers outside the European Union – but it’s clear that the risks to apparel companies with supply chains located in these regions need to act very quickly around the due diligence of where they source garments made of viscose and lyocell.
