Development and Current Status of the Buyers' Group in UK : Activities of DIY Companies

Abstract

Demand creation and market development for certified products is one of the key issues in forest certification, and the Buyers' Group is one of such initiatives. This paper reviews the development of the Buyers' Group in UK, and focuses on DIY companies and their suppliers that are found to be major components of the group. The Buyers' Group in UK has been growing and creating a certain demand for certified products with their relatively high market share. In particular, DIY companies have achieved their targets mainly by requiring their suppliers to get certification, which contributed to an increase in number of certified products. The suppliers, on the other hand, have shifted their source of ingredients to certain countries where certified timber and products are available. However, due to lack of premium price for certified products, certification costs are laid on the producers as a burden especially to the small operators.