Guitar Frets: Environmental Enforcement Leaves Musicians in Fear

[Mr_Rockhead]

They are being charged with smuggling, it appears.

Why don't they buy their wood from an American tree farm?

They are not being charged with smuggling. The problem is that there is a law in the country of origin that demands that this would be finished prior to export by workers in the other country.

UNDIEPUNDIT / I've Been Doin' Some Thinkin' (IBDST): The Gibson Blues

I wonder what they mean by "finished"?

I would think Gibson should get to do the finishing work on such high-priced woods (that are going into instruments with their name on it).

 

[code1211]

They are being charged with smuggling, it appears.

Why don't they buy their wood from an American tree farm?

They are not being charged with smuggling. The problem is that there is a law in the country of origin that demands that this would be finished prior to export by workers in the other country.

UNDIEPUNDIT / I've Been Doin' Some Thinkin' (IBDST): The Gibson Blues

I wonder what they mean by "finished"?

I would think Gibson should get to do the finishing work on such high-priced woods (that are going into instruments with their name on it).

I heard the wood described as only partially finished in one source. What I found most interesting was the combination of the Indian Government not making any complaint on this and the Gibson Company being non-union.

Also that they have grown in recent years.

By their record we know that the Obama Administration prefers foreign control over domestic, hates non-union workers and hates any kind of job growth.

In this one move, they hit the Trivecta.

 

[JMadison]

And all this is going to help the economy how?

Ask Al Gore.

 

[editec]

The owner of MARTIN guitars AGREES with the premise that importing wood illegally needs to end.

If it can be proven (as is being charged) Gibson KNEW they were importing wood illegally then the folks at GIBSON are in trouble and they ought to be in trouble, too.

 

[waltky]

Gibson case pales in comparison to China wood piracy...

China at center of illegal timber trade: NGO
Fri, Nov 30, 2012 - APPEAL: The Environmental Investigation Agency says China is exporting deforestation with its growing demand for wood, which has helped fuel conflict in several countries

China’s insatiable appetite for timber is driving a growing illegal trade that is stripping forests in Africa and Asia, and fueling conflict, underscoring the urgency for Beijing to enact laws to crack down, an environmental group said yesterday. China is the world’s top importer of illegal timber, with the trade worth about US$4 billion a year, London-based non-governmental organization (NGO) the Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA) said. Globally, Interpol estimates total trade in illegal timber is more than US$30 billion.

The EIA released its report entitled Appetite for Destruction: China’s Trade in Illegal Timber in Beijing to highlight what it said was China’s lack of action, in contrast to major trading partners such as the US. “China has built a vast wood-processing industry, reliant on imports for most of its raw materials supply. It is in effect exporting deforestation,” the group said in the report. It said China’s state-owned companies played a major role in securing supplies from overseas. An EIA analysis of China’s trade data for 2007 showed state-owned firms imported nearly half the volume of tropical logs that year.

The EIA, drawing on its own investigations and the work of Interpol, the World Bank and others, said China’s demand for timber has fueled conflict in Myanmar, Cambodia and Papua New Guinea, as well as parts of Africa. China’s booming economy has driven demand for timber for construction. In addition, many of its newly wealthy are splashing out on furniture, including items such as rosewood lounge sets that can cost hundreds of thousands of dollars, with much of the timber sourced illegally from Cambodia, Laos, Thailand or Madagascar.

In Laos, rare rosewood logs can fetch US$18,000 per cubic meter and even more in neighboring countries, the EIA said. The trade is fueling clashes between loggers and authorities. China’s rapidly growing timber imports are underpinning huge growth in exports of furniture, flooring, moldings and paper products. Wood product exports have increased nearly seven-fold in the past decade to US$34.2 billion in 2010, the EIA said.

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