Having worked with craftsmen in Developing Countries, it seems to me that they need help to add value at source, rather than exporting their raw materials.
Parts of Europe have a long tradition of managing their forests with a constant yield of indigenous hardwoods supplying national manufacturing industries.
In Britain, 90% of our timber is imported. This dates from the time that extensive areas of our forests were cleared to fuel the Industrial Revolution; the manufacture of timber products moved to the ports where timber was entering the country.
This destroyed the infrastructure of the internal timber-growing and manufacturing industries which has never recovered. However, there remain some well managed forest estates producing excellent indigenous timbers. The use of such materials is to be encouraged if we wish to see managed woodlands in our landscape.   _{Your Comment}