Illegal wood from the Amazon rainforest flows into EU and U.S. markets despite import bans — EIA
White boxes highlight where piles of logs are visible on the forest floor in a grid of satellite images

Illegal wood from the Amazon rainforest flows into EU and U.S. markets despite import bans

A new investigation by the Environmental Investigation Agency US (EIA) has uncovered widespread illegal logging in the largest Indigenous Territory in the Brazilian Amazon and traced exports of illicitly produced rainforest timber to the shores of Europe and the United States. In a report released today, EIA shows how weak government oversight of logging in Brazil is enabling rampant fraud, invasions of Indigenous land, and the destruction of the Amazon forest, while EU and U.S. laws intended to prevent imports of illegal timber are going unenforced. 

“We are demanding that the Brazilian government prevent illegal invasions of our 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,” the Munduruku Wakoborũn Women’s Association and Ipereğ Ayũ Movement said in a joint statement.

EIA’s new report, Bootleggers, Brokers and Buyers, documents a massive illegal logging operation inside the Munduruku Indigenous Territory, in the heart of the Amazon, where thousands of cubic meters of valuable tropical hardwoods are estimated to have been extracted. The report also documents three other illicit logging operations in the region, two connected to illegal gold mining, that together produced more than 25,000 cubic meters of timber. Using big data analytics, satellite monitoring, and expert interviews, the investigation provides new insights into how illegal timber is laundered into international supply chains. Suspect wood was traced through 11 sawmills and 8 exporters, many previously fined for illegal activities, to 11 importers in France, Portugal, Germany and the U.S.

The EU and U.S. are the destination for the vast majority of Brazil’s exports of tropical timber products, 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 over a decade that prohibit imports of illegally-produced wood – the European Union Timber Regulation (EUTR) and U.S. Lacey Act – but weak enforcement is allowing illegal Amazon wood to flow into their markets. Last year, EIA shared evidence of illegal timber imports with law enforcement agencies in six EU countries and the U.S., but to date only the Dutch authorities have confirmed that an investigation was carried out and a penalty issued against the importer.

“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, it places legitimate wood producers who follow the rules at a competitive disadvantage,” said Rick Jacobsen, Senior Manager for Commodities Policy at EIA US.

EIA has identified commercial links between EU and U.S. importers exposed in this investigation and in a previous report, Tricks, Traders and Trees, and the end-use clients they supply. These clients use tropical hardwoods such as Cumaru (Dipteryx) and Ipê (Handroanthus) – both protected under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) – for high-profile projects, including luxury Hyatt and Marriott hotels and a Formula One VIP stand in the U.S., a prominent bridge in Italy, a boardwalk on the French Riviera, and a luxury property in Austria.

EIA’s findings come amid continued efforts by industry lobbyists in the EU and U.S. to weaken due diligence requirements for timber and other commodities linked to deforestation and forest degradation under the EU Deforestation Regulation, which EU lawmakers delayed by a year for the second time in an amendment passed in late 2025. The European Commission was also tasked with carrying out a review of the administrative burden posed by the law, raising concerns the Commission could cave to industry pressure and propose further weakening of the bill. “Our findings highlight the harms caused by the failure to implement the EU Deforestation Regulation for the Amazon rainforest and the communities who depend on it. It is imperative that the law is not further weakened or delayed,” said Jacobsen.

In the U.S., the Trump administration has significantly reduced the resources available for enforcing environmental laws such as the Lacey Act despite public statements promising to protect the U.S. timber industry from unfair competition from illegal logging in Brazil.  

EIA is urging state and federal governments in Brazil to expeditiously adopt proposed measures to strengthen oversight of the timber sector, and to increase resources to monitor, detect and deter illegal invasions into Indigenous Territories. The EU and U.S. should investigate the timber imports identified in the report for violations of the EU Timber Regulation and U.S. Lacey Act, and the EU must fully implement the EU Deforestation Regulation without further weakening or delays.