Boa-Franc's Maple Toffee Sweet Memories

By Louis Iannaco
Hicksville, N.Y.—In years past, when industry professionals referred to exotic wood flooring, Brazilian Cherry is pretty much what came to mind. This for the simple reason that Brazilian Cherry was the only exotic species in which industry people really knew. However, as time has passed the availability of different exotic species has expanded greatly for retailers, contractors and others dealing with wood floors.

And while securing a steady supply of exotics from around the world at times still presents challenges, because of a greater demand among the design community and the consumer, those in the industry know it is worth it as these woods have never been more popular or profitable.

According to Ed Korczak, executive director of the National Wood Flooring Association ( NWFA), “exotic woods include much more than Brazilian Cherry now. Imports currently account for about 19% of the total market and include a wide variety of species. Species we see being used often, as with our annual Wood Floor of the Year contest, include wenge (Africa), ipe (South America), cumaru (South America), Australian Cypress, bubinga (Africa), jarrah (Australia), Santos mahogany (South America), purpleheart (South America), sapele (Africa), Burmese teak (Asia) and bamboo (Asia).”

“Now, exotics include hundreds of species, such as sapele, cabreuva and tigerwood,” said Jean-Sebastien Roy, marketing manager for Preverco. “The most popular ones in North America come from South America and Africa. However, Brazilian Cherry/Jatoba will remain the most popular because there is a stable supply of it.

“Importing from foreign countries has presented us with several challenges,” he explained. “The largest factor is reliability. Doing business with countries that have political, economical and social conflicts is not always an easy task for a Canadian or American company. Some players have bad credibility, and you have to double the effort to find companies that have a good supply, good quality and consistency from one container shipment to another. For example, we ordered the same product three times, and the first two containers were awesome. You think you’ve found the best product and the best supplier, until the third container arrives and you realize it is not the quality product that you ordered.

“You may also face challenges with delays and scheduling problems,” added Roy. “Importers will tell you that the shipment will arrive in six months, and then it can take up to a year. It’s because it’s so dependant on seasonality. If it’s the rainy season, you might have to wait six months before the wood will arrive.”

Scandian’s John Patterson, North American vice president of sales and marketing, agrees with Roy about the role South America plays regarding exotic woods. “Exotics at one time were defined by domestic species like maple, cherry, hickory and pecan. Today, the exotics designation has aligned more with South American hardwoods where Brazilian Cherry is the primary species of choice. Several factors have contributed to its success.

“One reason is excellent color range within the species,” he explained. “At Scandian Wood Floors, we always show consumers full room scenes to assist them in visualizing the range of color presented by these unique South American species. Durability and affordability are also critical factors in the selection process. Along with Brazilian Cherry numerous other South American species have gained consumer appeal due to aesthetics, durability and affordability. The most notable example is tiger-wood, where consumers either love the wild graining look at first site or they don’t. However, it continues to achieve strong sales growth.

“Other species to capture the attention of the consumer is timborana, amendoim and santos mahogany, to name a few,” added Patterson. “These unique species are readily available from various regions in South America.”

“A few years ago, we sold exotics by giving them American sounding names like Brazilian Cherry, Brazilian Walnut and Brazilian Oak,” said Don Finkell, CEO of Anderson Hardwood Floors. “Although they were beautiful in their own right, we felt that we needed to associate them with domestic species for people to feel comfortable with them. Now, we sell them by their local names like jatoba, ipe and amendoium. The more exotic sounding the name, the better. That wasn’t the case five years ago.

“Although exotics have been commonly used in Europe for decades, they’re just now coming into fashion here in the United States,” he added. “Exotics now come from a much wider area then just the Amazon region. Patagonia, Australia, Africa and Southeast Asia all have very beautiful and distinctive woods. Many are suitable for flooring.”

Scandian Wood Floors is a primary manufacturer of exotic species with manufacturing facilities in northern and southern Brazil. As Patterson noted, “ Scandian Industries has been exporting products to the U.S. for many years and understands how these transactions need to be managed. We work with our customers to assist them in understanding the logistics of importing from Brazil.”

Manufacturers and importers “must be vigilant that the wood they are importing is approved for export by the government of the country of origin,” said Korczak. “We are a responsible industry, concerned about sustainability, and need to do what we can to stop illegal logging, etc.”

“The exotic species are now coming from all over,” said Luc Robitaille, vice president of marketing for Boa-Franc, parent company of Mirage. “They are coming from Africa, Asia and South America as well. The challenges [involved] include dealing with different cultures and different ways of doing business. And, since all the countries all don’t have the same climate, availability is not all at the same time either. So, it is a question of being able to find exactly when that availability is and make it work, while, at the same time, to do business with them culturally.”

“Buying from foreign countries can be challenging,” said Finkell. “We have been buying wood out of South America for almost 15 years. We had some near disasters in the beginning. We ordered some 5-ply, 3-3/4-in. wide flooring only to have it show up as 7-ply, 3-in. wide. They blamed it on a language problem. It was four containers worth. We worked through that but the next shipment of 28 containers came in with catastrophic finishing problems and we had to recall all of it from the field.

“They blamed that on a difference in interpretation of grading rules between Paraguay and the U.S.,” he explained. “We ended up in a lawsuit but the supplier’s plant mysteriously burned down before we could collect. It has gotten better since then, but you always have to be aware of the risk. It’s a little like Indiana Jones pursuing the Arc. Keep your guard up!”

As Chris Thompson, vice president of sales and marketing for Mirage Hardwood Flooring said, “The way we look at it, there is almost a domestic exotic from the standpoint of American cherry and walnut, our domestic species that are somewhat exotic because they are different than the standard oak, maple or birch. Now, with the advent of South American species, such as jatoba, brazilian cherry and santos mahogany, and African species, like sapele, and Indonesia with merbau, there are a lot more different types of exotics available.”

Regarding the challenges companies face in dealing in exotic species, Thompson noted, firstly, “you have to be confident of the species itself in that it is going to perform up to your standards. Secondly, you have to do all your due diligence to make sure it is harvested legally and in a correct way. Thirdly, you’ve got to make sure as to the availability of the species. When you are buying lumber from that far away, business is not always done the same way as it is here.

“A major concern for us is, consistency of supply,” he concluded. “If you are going to sample products on a nationwide basis, you’ve got to make sure that you have a consistent supply of material. Those are the three primary issues you’re looking at, as opposed to a domestic species where you pretty much know the performance of oak and maple, its availability and where it is harvested because you have long-term relationships with saw mills. But you don’t have any of that when you start to buy from overseas.”

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