Huge volumes of illegally sourced Ipê and Cumaru are being stripped from deep in the Amazon and smuggled into Western markets – specifically Europe and the United States – where tropical timbers are still being used in luxury hotels, high‑end decking, premium flooring, and even Formula One race infrastructure.
That is according to a new EIA report, Bootleggers, Brokers and Buyers, which provides the most comprehensive evidence to date showing how timber is taken from Indigenous land and laundered through a complex network of sawmills and exporters before entering global supply chains under the guise of legal wood.
EIA’s 27‑page report, provided to Wood Central today, shows that the scale of timber laundering is far larger than previously understood. Investigators uncovered a massive illegal logging operation inside the Munduruku Indigenous Territory in Pará, spanning 5,000 hectares of forest, the equivalent of 7,000 soccer fields, and accessible from 60 kilometres of clandestine roads. High‑resolution satellite images captured 1,200 cubic metres of logs piled along these roads, providing a rare, unfiltered view of the extraction taking place.
But the extraction is only the beginning of the racket.
The investigation reveals how this timber is then “legalised,” documenting three licensed logging sites in Pará with evidence of laundering or illegal harvesting of more than 25,000 cubic metres of lumber, equivalent to 830 shipping containers. Combined with findings from EIA’s previous reports, the total volume of tainted timber now exceeds 78,000 cubic metres, or 31 Olympic‑sized pools.
Once laundered, the timber moves deeper into Brazil’s commercial network. Eleven sawmills — ten of which have been fined by enforcement agencies — were found to have received the tainted timber from two of the illegal operations and supplied some of it to eight exporters, many of whom were also fined in other cases and exposed in EIA’s previous investigation. Together, these links show a persistent pattern of trading products with a high risk of illegality.
For the Indigenous peoples of Munduruku, the consequences are devastating. In a joint statement, the Munduruku Wakoborũn Women’s Association and Ipereğ Ayũ Movement are now demanding that the Brazilian government prevent illegal invasions of lands for logging and mining. “We demand that foreign countries close their doors to products that have indigenous blood on them. Our territory is not a commodity.”
From there, the wood enters global markets with very little scrutiny.
The EU’s 27 member states and the United States are the destination for the vast majority of Brazil’s tropical timber exports, valued at more than US$250 million in 2024, despite widespread illegal logging in the country’s rainforests. Both jurisdictions have had laws in place for more than a decade that strictly prohibit imports of illegally produced wood — the European Union Timber Regulation (EUTR) and the U.S. Lacey Act — but weak enforcement is allowing the tainted timber to flow into their markets with little oversight.
According to Rick Jacobsen, EIA’s US Senior Manager for Commodities Policy, the lack of enforcement is worsening the crisis. “The failure of EU and U.S. authorities to enforce laws prohibiting the import of illegal timber is driving fraud, rainforest destruction, and the invasion of Indigenous land in the Brazilian Amazon. This not only threatens the future of the world’s largest rainforest, but it also places legitimate wood producers who follow the rules at a competitive disadvantage.”
“What we are seeing is a system designed to fail,” Jacobsen added. “The controls that should prevent illegal timber from entering the market are either not functioning or not being enforced.”
The implications stretch far beyond Brazil’s borders.
EIA found that tainted Ipê and Cumaru were purchased by French, Portuguese, German, and American importers and later supplied to luxury hotel chains, major infrastructure projects, and premium developments. In one case, a U.S. importer linked to the illegal supply chain provided decking for the Miami Formula One VIP stand, while European buyers supplied Ipê for a famous bridge in Italy and a boardwalk on the French Riviera.
The report comes as political will to act is shifting in both Brussels and Washington. EU lawmakers have twice delayed the long‑awaited EU Deforestation Regulation, while lobby groups continue pushing for further concessions. Meanwhile in the U.S., enforcement of the Lacey Act has been weakened, even as officials promise to protect domestic producers from unfair competition. Jacobsen warned that any further retreat would have global consequences: “If the EU and U.S. fail to enforce their own regulations, they are effectively rewarding illegal operators and punishing those who follow the rules,” he said.
Now, the EIA is calling on Brazilian authorities to strengthen oversight of the timber supply chain and increase resources to prevent illegal invasions of Indigenous land and is urging the EU and U.S. to investigate the importers identified in the report and fully enforce their timber‑legality laws.
