Merbau is a tropical timber species, which is often logged illegally.
Merbau is popular: the wood is mostly used for flooring and exterior doors. Merbau is the commercial name for wood from the Intsia spec tree species, which are marked ‘vulnerable’ on the IUCN red list. This indicates that the species are considered to be facing a high risk of extinction in the wild. In order to harvest merbau entire forests are destroyed. Merbau trees can now only be found in commercial quantities on the island of New Guinea.
The Netherlands is the chief importer of merbau in the European Union and is the largest end user as well. This is mainly because merbau is the primary type of timber used for exterior doors. The Netherlands imports an estimated 40 to 50 per cent of all merbau to the EU, which equalled approximately 50,000 cubic metres in 2006 (round wood equivalent). Belgium and Germany are second and third largest importers of merbau in the European Union. Compared to the Netherlands other European countries use far less merbau for exterior doors, but use a great deal for up-market flooring.
