ITTO贸易咨询组（TAG）赞同欧盟委员会提出的将《欧盟零毁林法案》（EUDR）实施日期推迟12个月至2025年12月30日。推迟后，木材行业就有更多准备时间来遵守该法案。然而，业界对延期隐藏的不确定性以及在最后时刻提出的修正案感到担忧，因多方面原因，这些修正案存在问题。

尽管ITTO不能左右EUDR的推迟实施和法案条文，但如果我们不指出这方面问题，就会是我们的失职，因为EUDR对全球林业政策和贸易的影响是重大且持续的。我们呼吁欧盟委员会与各消费国和生产国携手合作，以确保EUDR的顺利实施。

当前热带木材市场非常不稳定，未来也存在许多未知因素。世界银行最新发布的《全球经济展望》指出，2023年全球贸易充满挑战，复苏步伐缓慢，是近50年来除全球衰退期以外表现最疲软的一年。

由于巴拿马严重干旱阻碍了运河通航、红海地区冲突持续不断，各地木制品生产商正饱受航运成本激增和的航运时间不规律之苦。在出口木制品的物流问题上，越南、中国、印度尼西亚、巴西和马来西亚企业最为不满。

航运公司以新冠疫情持续性影响和地缘政治冲突为由，增加海运成本和其他物流成本，这引起许多生产国的出口商不满。在这一波波运费上涨之前，东南亚至美国或欧盟的运费大约是每40英尺集装箱2000美元。在后疫情时期，运费一度飙升至18,000至20,000美元，而现在，由于乌克兰战争和红海地区混乱局势，发往美国和欧盟市场的运费在8,000至10,000美元之间波动。最终，这些成本不仅会抑制贸易，而且会转嫁给消费者，而当前消费者对价格已经越来越敏感。

那么，在全球充满不确定性的背景下，ITTO能为木材行业提供哪些帮助呢？

全球合法与可持续木业高峰论坛（GLSTF）由ITTO、澳门特别行政区招商投资促进局（IPIM）共同主办，首届论坛于2023年召开。2024年9月，GLSTF启动了“促进合法与可持续木业供应链行动框架”，旨在加强木材供应链中利益相关方国际合作，促进木材行业可持续发展，并为实现可持续发展目标和应对气候变化做出贡献。

在2024年GLSTF论坛的开幕致辞中，ITTO执行主任Sheam Satkuru强调，GLSTF是加强木材行业利益相关方之间联系和商务交流的合作平台，旨在促进森林可持续经营、推动木材和木制品的合法与可持续利用和贸易。

在澳门举行的这届GLSTF论坛以及随后在全球范围内举行的TAG成员讨论会上，我们发现传统市场中的热带木材买家现时并未收到热带木材生产国在森林可持续经营方面已经取得和正在取得的进展信息。因此，针对热带木材生产国自1992年里约地球峰会以来在溯源、合法性和可持续性方面已经取得的和正在继续取得的重大进展，需要有一个机制来进行沟通、教育、推广和宣传。

现在看来，ITTO和GLSTF在合力解决市场上负面看法方面非常契合。首要之举是，应该成立一个囊括各利益相关方的工作组，由其明确应向产品买家传递的信息内容及传达方式。可整理生产国为实现森林可持续经营所付出行动的相关信息，并将其用于开展宣传活动，以扭转消费者的误解。

在此，TAG提议拨出资源和资金，雇佣一名专职人员来开展这项重要任务。迫切需要这样一名人员，不受干扰地承担这项任务，同时还能得到所有ITTO成员国的协助。

要有专人将100%的精力放在重塑热带木材贸易需求，就是TAG今天向ITTC提出的请求。我们并肩携手，就可以共同打造传播内容，彰显我们共同的认知——木材是可持续的资源，木材贸易对森林有积极作用，我们可以共同保护热带森林、造福未来。

The TAG welcomes the proposal from the European Commission to delay the EUDR application date by 12 months to 30 December 2025 which will allow more preparation time for the timber industry to comply. However, the industry is concerned over the uncertainty of the delay as well as new 11th hour amendments, which are problematic for multiple reasons.

While we acknowledge that ITTO is not able to impact either the delay or the regulation, we would be remiss if we did not highlight this issue, given the seismic impacts the EUDR has and will have on the global forestry policy and trade. We urge the Commission to work with both Consumers and Producers to ensure a smooth implementation of the EUDR.

The tropical timber markets are very unsteady at present and there are a lot of unknowns ahead. The World Bank’s latest Global Economic Prospects report highlighted the struggles and slow recovery of global trade in 2023 marking one of the weakest performances in 50 years outside of global recessions.

Today, wood product manufacturers everywhere are reeling from skyrocketing shipping costs and irregular shipping schedules due to, firstly, the drought in Panama severely curtailing ship passages through the Canal; and secondly, the ongoing conflicts in the Red Sea region. The complaints about the logistics in exporting timber products are loudest from Vietnam, China, Indonesia, Brazil, and Malaysia.

Exporters in many producer countries are not happy that shipping companies are using the continuing fallout from the Covid pandemic and geo-political conflicts as reasons to increase marine freight and other logistics costs. Prior to these recent increases, freight charges from Southeast Asia to the US or EU were around US$ 2,000 per 40 foot container. In the post-Covid pandemic, freight charges soared between US$ 18,000 - 20,000, and now, because of the war in Ukraine and the Red Sea chaos, freight charges are varying between US$ 8,000 - 10,000 to the US and EU markets. Ultimately, these costs will not only depress trade but be passed along to the consumer, at a time when price consciousness is an increasing barrier to the use of wood.

So, in the midst of all these global uncertainties, what can ITTO do to help the timber industry?

The Global Legal and Sustainable Timber Forum (GLSTF) was created in 2023 by ITTO and Macao’s Commerce and Investment Promotion Institute, and the inaugural Forum was convened in 2023. In September 2024, the GLSTF launched the Action Framework for Promoting Legal and Sustainable Timber Supply Chains to strengthen international collaboration among stakeholders in timber supply chains, promote the sustainable development of the timber industry, contribute to the Sustainable Development Goals, and combat climate change.

In her opening address at GLSTF 2024, ITTO Executive Director Sheam Satkuru asserted that the GLSTF is a collaborative platform of timber industry stakeholders designed to strengthen networking and business exchanges among timber industry stakeholders to facilitate sustainable forest management and the legal and sustainable use and trade of timber and wood products.

During that GLSTF meeting in Macau and subsequent discussions among TAG members globally it was established that the buyers of tropical timber in our traditional markets are not receiving information about the progress tropical timber producers have made and are continuing to make towards SFM. There is a need for a mechanism to communicate, educate, promote, market, and publicise the tremendous progress tropical timber producers have made and are continuing to make since the Rio Earth Summit in 1992 on traceability, legality, and sustainability.

It seems a natural fit now for ITTO and GLSTF to work together on addressing the negative perceptions in the market. Firstly, a Working Group of stakeholders could be formed to define what and how to communicate to the buyers of our products. The information of what the producers have been doing towards SFM could be collated to be used in a campaign to address consumer negative perceptions.

TAG proposes that resources and finances could be set aside to employ a dedicated person to handle this important task. There is a desperate need for a person, working without distractions, to undertake the task with help from all ITTO Members.

This 100% focus on rebuilding demand for tropical timber trade is what TAG seeks from ITTC today. Together, we can create a narrative that demonstrates what we all know – that wood is sustainable, that trade benefits forests, and that together, we can protect tropical forests for the future.