Of Thailand’s 51 million hectares of land, 16.4 million hectares (31.5%) are forested. Natural forests account for 41% of Thailand forest cover, regenerated forests 35%, and planted forests 24%, the highest plantation figure in Southeast Asia. More than half of the plantations are rubber plantations managed by smallholders. Logging in natural forests has been banned since 1989.

Thailand is a regional manufacturing hub for wood products. While importing large amounts of its high quality timbers, it is also the world's largest producer of rubberwood products. The country is an important supplier of wood furniture and other timber products to consumer markets in Asia such as China, Japan and South Korea. Timber trade with the EU was worth USD 267 million in 2014, while export of all wood and paper products (including furniture) totalled USD 4,384 million.

The formal VPA process between the Government of Thailand and the EU started in late 2013. After preparatory technical work, the first official negotiations took place in June 2017. The Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment is the lead ministry in the VPA negotiations. 

For more information, visit the Thai-EU FLEGT secretariat website.