Survey underpins market strength of FSC
Why do companies choose to become FSC-certified? An FSC market survey report published by FSC shows that customer demands are a key driving force: as many as 83% of chain of custody certificate holders were driven by their clients to obtain certification.
Over 3,500 certified companies and forest operations in 29 countries joined the FSC Annual Market Survey 2010, which was conducted by an independent market research agency.
Multiple market benefits
The survey confirms that the companies’ positive expectations about the benefits of becoming FSC certified have largely been met. This is particularly true for client retention where 71.6% of the chain of custody certificate holders state that their expectations have been met or exceeded.
Among the market benefits associated with FSC certification are also increased sales to existing clients, higher prices, increased access to new clients and increased revenues.
These are all experienced to varying degrees among Chain of Custody and Forest Management certificate holders.
Unexpected advantages
Significantly, as many as 65% of Chain of Custody certificate holders and over 76% of certified forest operations report on some level of unexpected benefits of their certification. The most significant positive surprise is enhanced access to new clients, where more than 30% of the Chain of Custody certificate holders have experienced an unexpected improvement based on their certificate.
High level of confidence
Almost 90% of the certificate holders are overall content with their certification and expect to maintain it. This positive response was obtained despite the fact that over 42% of the respondents reported having minor or major supply problems. The study also showed that the vast majority of certificate holders perceive FSC as a credible and leading forest certification scheme.
