Exporting Timber

[xen]

A mate of mine is playing with the idea of exporting some timber to be used in guitar making.

He is interested in Thailand Rosewood (Dalbergia cocchinensis ,locally known as Payon by the Thais - sorry the spelling may be off) and / or Burmese Rosewood (Dalbergia bariensis ) .

He hasn't been able to source it withinn Australia.

He will be in Thailand around March and is interested to know if it available in Thailand and from where or is it available in Laos or Cambodia and how would he find it. He is looking for around half a cubic metre at most .

Also what is the best method of shipping it back to Australia. Are there any regulations on the Thai side that he needs to be aware off and what documentation is needed. Any suggestions for a good shipping agent who could assist .

Thanks for any help

[Tonto21]

I may be wrong, but I think there’s a ban on exporting timber from Thailand, (the good stuff) it can be hard just to move timber about in Thailand, officially and you need authenticity doc for the wood if stopped by the BIB.

I think the best bet would be to start with a web search, first try Thai gov web site, ……wood export! Get the facts. Then if you get the OK, Thai lumber yards/wood stockiest, send an email….Tell them what you want. Try for somewhere in the north of Thailand, Chiangmai area, it will be cheaper up there.

Be careful you will easily be able to source wood, (Off the books) in the mountains Mae Taeng area, just north of Chiangmai. This wood is dodgy, if you are caught with it without papers, it will cost you a lot of tea money. You have to haggle the price to include papers for the wood.

Good luck.

[xen]

I may be wrong, but I think there's a ban on exporting timber from Thailand, (the good stuff) it can be hard just to move timber about in Thailand, officially and you need authenticity doc for the wood if stopped by the BIB.

I think the best bet would be to start with a web search, first try Thai gov web site, ……wood export! Get the facts. Then if you get the OK, Thai lumber yards/wood stockiest, send an email….Tell them what you want. Try for somewhere in the north of Thailand, Chiangmai area, it will be cheaper up there.

Be careful you will easily be able to source wood, (Off the books) in the mountains Mae Taeng area, just north of Chiangmai. This wood is dodgy, if you are caught with it without papers, it will cost you a lot of tea money. You have to haggle the price to include papers for the wood.

Good luck.

Thanks for your reply .

When we were talking about this today the subject of wether there were any international treaties preventing the movement of rainforest timbers. I doubt that this timber is is plantation grown (yet) but that is a question we are also asking.I know Australia has regulations about the import of endangered habitat and rainforest timber. That is why he wanted to know if there are legal ways of doing it. It is not the Thailand part that is overly difficult but the export/import aspectsand where to legally obtain the timber with the correct documentation.

No doubt it can be obtained thru various means but it is usless if he hasn't the correct documentation and he can't import it back into Australia. And the penalities for doing so can be severe as well as the ethics of being a part of illegal logging is something he want s no part of.

[kmj]

You may find it easier to make the guitar parts here and export as parts, this gets around the difficulties of exporting raw timber ( I have done this before but from Indonesia) , also timber exports rules differ weather the timber has been treated or not. It's nearly impossible to get import licenses for untreated timber ( into the UK & EU anyway)