Almost 2,000 container ships carrying timber illegally harvested in the Amazon region have been dispatched to buyers in Europe and the United States. Incidentally, it is this very region that will host the COP30 world climate conference this year. The illegally harvested timber is sold in the European Union and the USA as especially valuable wood, effectively making a mockery of the European Union's “famous” Deforestation Regulation (EUDR), which is due to take effect in a few months' time.
This is the finding of an investigation carried out by the Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA), “Tricks, traders and trees”: How illegal logging drives criminal logging in the Brazilian Amazon and feeds the US and EU markets, which states that 53,000 cubic metres of mostly ipe and cumaru timber from the Pará* region was obtained unlawfully. This is happening because of a disorderly logging and timber supply system in which corruption is widespread.
As things stand, more than a third of all timber coming from Amazon areas is of illegal origin. According to EIA's data, even this figure is a very modest one. In its report, EIA notes that at least 30 timber companies in the USA and Europe import timber from illegal sources, “raising serious questions about compliance with the Lacey Act (USA) and with European Union legislation”.
"Our investigation shows how illegally harvested timber from the Amazon region is flooding both European and US markets, fuelling unfair competition against law-abiding companies. This is happening despite legislation that prohibits trade in illegally harvested timber. It seems that European and American consumers, out for a stroll along their local seaside promenade, would certainly rather not be walking on the remains of illegally felled rainforest,” says Rick Jacobsen, EIA's US policy expert.
One of the most sought-after and most highly valued timbers is ipe (or Brazilian walnut), which accounts for 75% of the Brazilian hardwood used to make balconies and staircases in Europe, as well as in iconic projects such as New York's High Line park.
Using extensive data, satellite imagery and confidential sources, EIA identified and made public five large illegal logging sites, 19 sawmills involved and 16 dishonest Brazilian exporters, “exposing a number of the tricks used in illegal trade”. According to Rick Jacobsen, these conclusions, drawn a few weeks after Brazil's federal environmental agency IBAMA carried out the largest crackdown on illegal timber harvesting in the previous five years, show how important stricter legislation and its enforcement are.
“This is not the moment to reduce or weaken the legal requirements placed on EU and US companies to ensure that they do not buy illegal timber. We need more, not less, control over trade in high-risk timber. What is at stake are processes that are effectively destroying the Amazon's forests,” R. Jacobsen stressed.
Brazil is one of the largest exporters of tropical hardwood products to Europe. The National Whistleblower Center has reported that “23–30% of the hardwood sawn timber and plywood traded worldwide comes from illegal logging”.
The new report was published after Wood Central reported that suspicious logging plans and a steady flow of Amazon timber are one of Europe's most significant problems ahead of the introduction of the EU Deforestation Regulation (EUDR). According to Dutch statistics (it is in the Netherlands that Europe's busiest and most active shipping facilities are located), the Dutch are the largest importers of Brazilian soy, palm oil, cocoa and, most importantly, timber products.
https:/eia.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/Tricks-Traders-and-Trees-Spreads.pdf%E2%80%9D
https:/woodcentral.com.au/why-the-dutch-have-a-e10b-problem-with-eu-deforestation-laws/%E2%80%9D
https:/woodcentral.com.au/brazils-biggest-raid-in-5-years-seizes-illegal-timber-in-amazon/%E2%80%9D
https:/www.cbs.nl/nl-nl/nieuws/2023/39/nederland-grootste-importeur-van-soja-palmolie-en-cacao-van-de-eu%E2%80%9D
* Pará. A Brazilian state that lies in the north of the country and is crossed by the Amazon. To the north-west lies the national border with Guyana and Suriname, and to the north-east – the Atlantic Ocean. The state capital is Belém, where COP30 will be held.
Pará is the most densely populated state in northern Brazil. More than 8.6 million people live here. It is the ninth most populous state and the second largest Brazilian state by area – 1.2 million square kilometres. The region's best-known symbols are the Amazon and the Amazon rainforest. Pará grows rubber (obtained from rubber tree plantations), cassava, açaí, pineapples, cocoa, black pepper, coconuts, bananas, tropical hardwoods (mahogany), and it extracts minerals such as iron ore and bauxite.