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Top Belgian companies focused on export
THE NUMBER OF SAWMILLS CONTINUES TO FALL SURVEY SHOWS THAT THE SECTOR STILL FACES MAJOR UNCERTAINTIES Stefaan Vandecasteele (Vandecasteele Houtimport - B) ‘Our goal: From 2025, we aim to trade only in certified wood.’ Vandecasteele Houtimport, based in Aalbeke near Kortrijk, is a major player in the Belgian timber industry. It is a family business now in its fifth generation and it imports timber and timber products from over 45 countries worldwide. The company specialises in the import, trade, and export of tropical hardwood from Africa, South-East Asia, and Latin America. The company also supplies Scandinavian and Russian softwood, Siberian larch, North American soft and hardwood, and European hardwood. The company was founded in 1883 by Louis Vandecasteele and has passed from generation to generation to its present owner Stefaan Vandecasteele, so this company from Aalbeke has booked years of experience and life has been anything but dull. On the country, this company, now almost 140 years old, has proven itself to be a master in adapting constantly to an ever rapidly changing industry. Obviously, the company focuses on its customers and is also strongly committed to sustainability. They are even aiming to supply only certified wood by 2025. Gaining and maintaining trust How has Vandecasteele Houtimport managed over the years? Floor Forum International interviewed owner Stefaan Vandecasteele and opened the discussion with perhaps the most important question of all: How have you managed to gain and maintain customer trust for all those years? Stefaan Vandecasteele explains: ‘Actually, it’s quite simple. We strive for partnerships with both customers and suppliers and everything stands or falls with the mutual trust of all the parties concerned. Those customers consist of wood importers, wood traders, and industrial joiners. 50% of them are located in Belgium and 50% in the rest of Europe, although our major export countries are our neighbours: France, the Netherlands, the UK, Germany, and the Scandinavian countries. Customers can consult our stock through our online portal and place orders. We provide the transport or prepare the parcels ready for collection.’ ‘One of our strengths is our flexibility. We can quickly respond to the market needs thanks to our own fleet of 17 vehicles. Due to our great stock holding, we can deliver various species of timber from Africa, the Far East, Russia, and Latin and North America within a few days. This makes us the first choice of many importers and traders. We also have an extensive storage facility on 20 hectares of land where we stock over 120,000m³ of timber.' Investing for the future We’ve noticed a lot of investments this year at Vandecasteele Houtimport. For instance, they have purchased no fewer than 17 new Volvo lorries with Volvo Connect tracking system, five new side loaders (one of them fully electric), and 10 new trailers. Furthermore, the rack system has been extended and is now 7.5km long. ‘And there’s more,’ Stefaan Vandecasteele continues. ‘We’ve also invested in new IT instruments in order to make our due diligence more robust. We’ve also said that the company attaches great importance to sustainability and the environment. ‘We’re not only committed to nature and certified wood, our stockholding of hardwoods and softwoods is coupled with strong environmental credentials (FSC®, PEFC, OLB, NCLS, …) We have set a challenging goal to only trade in certified timbers from 2025.
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