Trade: French wood “looted” by China

French wood is bought by the Chinese, to the detriment of French producers. A practice that allows the country not to cut down its forests. Thus, in Isère, a Chinese wood exporter bought several tonnes of wood cut in Vercors at an exorbitant price during an auction.

The wood from spruce or fir trees was transported by truck to Rotterdam, in the Netherlands, a city 1,000 km from its region of origin. Then, the wood was transported by boat to the Middle Kingdom, 8,000 km away. Then, it returns to France in the form of furniture.

For Michaël Kraemer, mayor of the town of Lans-en-Vercors, this practice makes no sense: “It’s absurd, it’s revolting and it’s staggering to see this. We can’t today cut wood in the mountains and take it across half of Europe, put it on boats and go to China. For me, wood remains part of the circuitt. We have sawmills at the foot of our mountains,” defends the mayor.

An environmental and commercial disaster which is hitting Alpine producers hard. The situation annoys Stéphane Eymard, boss of a large sawmill in the Vercors and departmental president of Sawyers and Foresters: “It is completely scandalous, unacceptable that we can see our woods which were planted by our ancestors shipped in China: Today, I have around forty employees. If all the wood goes to China, my sawmill is closed“, he explains, carried away by emotion. He appeals to the public authorities and denounces what he calls “plunder“.