Thousands of tons of timber from Myanmar have continued to be imported into the US, despite government sanctions against the country’s state-run timber company, a new report from a watchdog environmental advocacy group has revealed.
According to the UK-based Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA), over 3,000 tons of timber from Myanmar have been imported into the US over the lpst two years.
Teak, prized for its natural water resistance in the building of luxury yachts, furniture and flooring, has been a controversial material for years because of deforestation in Myanmar.
After a military coup that took over the democratic civilian government in February 2021, the US levied sanctions against military leaders and military-controlled companies, including the state-controlled Myanmar Timber Enterprise (MTE), the only company in the country allowed to harvest and sell timber for export.
US federal law, under the Lacey Act, requires that imports of wildlife, fish or plants must be legally harvested under the exporting country’s laws. In 2014, a Myanmar law was passed under the former government that banned exports of raw timber – though it allowed exports of milled timber – to curb deforestation. But the EIA has warned the military-controlled government is likely not following the law, and the country is on track to lose its forests by 2035.
Deforestation is in addition to the violence of the Myanmar regime, which has so far killed 3,490 people, including at least 363 children, in crackdowns against pro-democracy protesters. The United Nations has condemned the military regime for “grave human rights violations”, including the torture and execution of activists. In April, the regime conducted a series of deadly airstrikes on civilians, killing more than 100.
“By closing their eyes to the brutality of the military regime, both traders and those consuming teak for their yachts and floors are supplying much needed hard currency to a junta bankrupting the nation, supporting ever-increasing criminality within the country and enabling corruption,” the EIA report reads.
The report names the top 12 US-based companies that have imported teak from Myanmar since the start of the coup. Two companies, East Teak Fine Hardwoods and J Gibson McIlvain, have what the group says is a duopoly on Myanmar teak imports in the US, making up 88% of all teak imports over the past two years with more than 1,600 tons of imports combined.
The companies did not respond to requests for comment from the EIA or the Guardian. J Gibson McIlvain said the company has relationships with mills and exporters, allowing it to know where the timber is coming from.
“It is important to us to know where our teak wood comes from and how it was harvested for sustainability reasons, but also to comply with government regulations,” the company said on its website.
Many US companies that import teak from Myanmar use what is called the “stockpile narrative”, the EIA says, in which companies say the teak was harvested and bought from other Myanmarese companies, which themselves bought the teak from MTE before the coup in February 2021. The EIA says the chance that legal timber harvested and sold before the coup being mixed with illegal timber “is extremely high”. And, it says, the idea that there is still timber in the legal “stockpile” exported from the country “is highly dubious”.
While the US sanctioned MTE for its ties to the military regime, the EIA argues that any teak from Myanmar that is traded today financially benefits the regime since MTE not only controls all teak trading, but the regime also charges a fee for all containers that leave Myanmar’s ports.
The EIA said that trade data ultimately shows “no major impact on the trade of Myanmar teak into the US”. “Instead, trade has continued at the same levels as before the coup, with the fourth quarter of 2022 seeing some of the biggest monthly imports since the time leading up to and after February 2021,” the report said.
In response to sanctions and ethical concerns, teak importers have turned to third-party verification companies that follow the history of lumber products, from harvest to export. But the report questions the authenticity of such verification as the companies claim to use DNA samples from trees to determine exactly when a tree was felled. For such testing to be accurate, samples from teak trees in conflict regions would be required, access to which is limited.
The group argues the only way to ensure that US consumers are not directly or indirectly supporting the military regime in Myanmar is to ban the import of any teak from the country, not just teak bought from MTE – a step taken by the EU in 2021 – and to have stricter enforcement. It noted that the US justice department in April created a timber interagency working group that aims to strengthen timber enforcement, with a particular focus on climate impacts.
“Without action, it’s no wonder US-based traders blithely continue to import Myanmar’s blood teak when they know there will be no consequences for them,” said EIA forests campaign leader Faith Doherty in a statement. “That is not acceptable.”
