It's easy to talk about parquet: This is why we are Parkemo

In an increasingly globalized environment, careful to the principles of sustainability, regulations, product and supply chain certifications, parquet manufacturers are facing increasing levels of attention to protect the buyer and the environment.

31.05.2019

By now we know each other very well and you know how Parkemo is passionate about its raw material, wood and even before, forests and nature.

It is an authentic passion which goes beyond the need or willingness to communicate and which overcomes fashions or trends.

Wood is a living material even after we have cut it... we have said it many times, as we have often talked about the importance of treatments that are used during processing able to guarantee to wood, which will then become parquet in your most precious spaces, not only durability and healthiness, but also reduced environmental impact, both during production and at the end of its use.

What we have never told you about is the commitment that Parkemo, like any other company producing quality parquet, must put to demonstrate and guarantee that the entire production cycle of wood destined to be transformed into parquet is really sustainable, for the environment, for society and for the production processes involved.

Guaranteeing the sustainability of parquet

The demand for timber is so high that it now appears more necessary than ever to define common standards worldwide, not only of the suitability of products, origins and processing, but also of legality with respect to the marketing of such international productions.

Let us explain: when buying timber, every parquet manufacturer must take the utmost care in order to be documented by his suppliers - and in turn to be able to reproduce those documents downstream - the suitability of the raw material used with respect to a plurality of reference regulations and certifications, all related to the aforementioned theme of sustainable forest management.

Managing and guaranteeing this care and attention in an increasingly global context, with continuously increasing demand, is an extremely complex activity for us producers of quality parquet.

Every year customers demand news, new styles, new products, new essences and so the market reacts, launching new proposals and new producers globally from all over the world, ready to fill the sea with cargo ships full of containers travelling thousands of kilometers from one continent to another to satisfy this unstoppable demand.

In this context, the risk that untracked, unsuitable semi-finished wood products coming from unknown forests or even illegal supply chains onto the market is more than a fantasy.

It is in fact common evidence that the awareness of environmental issues as a structural element in any production and consumption process has only emerged in recent years and not yet as a global mainstream, with some countries later and others still at the beginning of a long path of improvement made of culture, regulation and controls.

The international certifications FSC and PEFC, developed more than twenty years ago between the United States and Europe and today adopted by Parkemo and by all the international quality operators to certify the origin of wood from sustainably managed forests, appear in this changed context as a certain and important element, certainly necessary, but not sufficient to be a commitment’s witness of the entire supply chain involved in quality production.

On the other hand, these certifications of voluntary origin are not currently recognized by the European reference legislation (EU Timber Regulation) as sufficient to demonstrate the adequacy of the "due diligence" system that this legislation assigns to the producers like us at Parkemo, with respect to the verification of the origin of the processed materials.

The costs of sustainability and quality of parquet

Dear friends, the times have really passed when the market was such as to guarantee itself, suppliers and customers.

In which everything, or almost, took place on a trust basis. And this also applies to the wood market, which is then the forest market and ultimately nature. This is why the very idea that there are illegal wood and timber producers not recognized neither certifiable impacts our sensitivity, even before our professionalism and our commitment.

Regulations and controls go in the right direction, aiming at the regulation at a global level, of the wood supply chains.

Quality operators like Parkemo know that this is the way to go. They recognize the need to sanction those who do not comply, but they fear that downloading the controls on the lower part of the supply chain, that is on them, could cause increasing costs of production and therefore a general increase in the price of quality parquet.

Because what becomes challenging in this phase, for Parkemo as for all quality operators, is precisely to remain competitive, that is to guarantee its customers truly sustainable products at equally sustainable prices, having to take on ever more important control and monitoring processes, challenging and expensive.

And while companies that operate with quality are organising themselves and making these new focuses their own, direct distribution, online sales, the new logistics platforms are blasting all the paradigms of sales and purchase of parquet.

The real risk is that the final customer, in this Babylon, does not have the elements to make a conscious decision. In these cases it is always the price that becomes the basis element of which to discriminate the purchase and the risk of "adverse selection", that is to take a corner appears to be very high in this context.

The risk, in substance, is that the end customer buys at a good price a bad quality parquet coming from no one knows where, worked it is not known how, maybe treated with harmful chemical products, but close to its aesthetic and economic needs.

We still like the idea that parquet is an emotional, important, exciting purchase and not simply a product like another to lay.

We think it is right that everyone can afford to have a nice parquet floor.

We believe that this renewed respect for nature can only be good for everyone of us.

That's why we will continue to guarantee you the best in our products, but also in everything we do in our offices and in our laboratories, in the care we put into the choice of suppliers and partners. Out of respect for you and nature.

This is the only way to become and remain Parkemo.

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