Secondary wood manufactures' willingness-to-pay for certified wood products in Italy

In recent decades forest certification systems have emerged to address the management of forest ecosystems according to the principles of sustainability and environmental protection. This study analyzes the secondary wood manufacturers' attitudes, awareness and willingness-to-pay for certified and local wood materials in Italy. A structured questionnaire was submitted by email to a sample of 1520 secondary wood manufacturers, having a response rate of 8% (121 manufacturers). The results show that the main factors that influence the consumption/choice of secondary wood manufacturers are the durability of wood products and the personal knowledge of the seller. In addition, the results show that 29.7% of respondents would be willing to pay a mean premium price of 2.40% for certified wooden planks, while 19.0% of them are willing to pay a premium of 2.68% for certified wooden panels. With regard to local wood materials, the results show that 23.1% of respondents would be willing to pay a mean premium price of 2.95% to buy local wooden planks, and 20.7% of them a premium of 4.13% for local wooden panels. The results of this study can contribute to the forest certification knowledge base in order to support decision makers (owners and wood manufacturers) in their strategic business decisions.