Certification in forestry and forest products industry in Turkey: Sectoral situation and awareness analysis

In this study, it was aimed to analysis forest and forest products certification awareness of managers and employees working in state forest enterprises and forest products industries in Turkey. In this context, surveys including 55 questions for state forest enterprises and 43 questions for forest products industries were developed. Surveys were conducted by 146 participants from 71 state forest enterprises and 377 participants from forest products industries. According to the results, based on the opinions of participants from state forest enterprises on the forest and forest products certification; there are statistically significant differences in variables such as assignment of participants in certification process, recognition of certificate documents, geographic region of enterprises, ownership of certificate and adopted sales methods. On the other hand, there are not statistically significant differences in variables such as educational status, task and employment period of participants. Based on the opinions of participants from forest products industries, there are statistically significant differences in variables such as duty of participants, recognition of certificate documents, geographic region of enterprises, activity area, production technique, product group, number of employees, target market, annual income, ownership of certificate, customer demand for certificate, income group of customers, target group of end consumers and distribution channels. On the other hand, there are not statistically significant differences in variables such as operating period and supply of semi-products. Depending on the results of the study, in order to increase awareness level and efficiency in certification process, it is important to consider current workload and opinions of managers and crafts working in state forest enterprises and concentrate on informing owners and managers of especially small scale forest products industry enterprises. Key Words: Certification, forest products, awareness, state forest enterprises, forest products industry enterprises.