They seek to provide access to the best markets in the world for their timber.

(Ciudad de Panamá-ANPanamá) Consumers increasingly demand to know where their goods come from, so being able to maintain traceability and demonstrate that forest resources have a legal origin allows them access to the best export markets in the world, said Bianca Frieda Morán, President of the Panamanian Exporters Association (APEX).

He added that Panama promotes a legal timber trade, which also respects the preservation of forests, and to control the export process, the Ministry of Environment (Miambiente) plays a role in which inspects the areas of wood processing and verify that the wood has reached the market with all legal channels, through forestry registration, certification of operation, export guides, sales invoice, among other processes.

According to the president of APEX, thanks to the Legal Timber Network, the management and traceability of forest resources can be demonstrated to have a legal origin, and to be able to promote practices and fair trade where timber producers get a fair price. "There must be a differentiation and the cost of generating legal timber must be recognized," Frieda said.