Competitiveness and competitive advantages of chestnut timber laminated products

KEY MESSAGE : Chestnut timber is a resource that has so far been underestimated. The production of laminated chestnut beams represents important progress; it is necessary to check its market performances and the opportunities offered from non-market characteristics. To ensure competitiveness margins in the future, dedicated chestnut timber policy is required. CONTEXT: European Union policies for sustainable development converge towards the enhancement of forest resources. Hypothesis: enlargement of the range of wood products and increase in timber products usage can only be achieved if these products are more competitive than conventional. AIMS: With respect to conifer timber, chestnut timber has competitive characteristics. However, chestnut timber has had very few opportunities for market development in the last decades. As result of its competitiveness margins, the laminated chestnut beams process has recently developed. For this product, a conventional market or competitiveness space has been established as well as its extension in relation to non-market characteristics. METHODS: Market space has been defined by determining the producer’s reserve price limits, using the cost approach criteria; the consumer’s upper limit, using the market comparison approach; the expansion of the upper limit for the non-market characteristics, the environmentally friendly consumer price, determined through interviews with a sample of responsible consumers. RESULTS: Limits are: the producer’s reserve price is 752.68 €/m³; the consumer’s reserve price is 918.77 €/m³; in the main regional market (Rome district), the environmentally friendly consumer’s price is 1164.08 €/m³. CONCLUSION: Knowledge of the various market limits of chestnut timber allows producers to assess its competitive margins. Conservation over time of these margins, however, requires dedicated governance, as well as the adoption of a forest strategy aimed at promoting the timber production quality and a marketing plan to promote the knowledge of the characteristics of chestnut wood (market and non-market characteristics) and increase the number of responsible consumers.