ANKARA 

French authorities are turning a blind eye to "illegal" exports of timber to China, a report said Tuesday.

Disclose, which calls itself a “non-profit investigative newsroom,” said France's National Office of Forests (ONF) is at the heart of this "illegal trade."

According to Disclose, Chinese entrepreneurs make deals with France's forest authority at high prices to skirt a ban imposed by the European Union on exports of raw wood products.

The entrepreneurs come to Ardennes in northeastern France and take and send pictures of trees to timber buyers in China.

When the latter accepts, Chinese traders in France start doing the work.

Timber producers working under the ONF prefer sending the containers to China at a profit of €15,000 ($15,980) instead of turning them into wood at a cost of €40,000.

France adopted a regulation in 2015 to prevent the export of timber outside the EU.

In this context, the ONF has been granted priority in selling wood products.

Disclose said that ONF officials founded two companies, including a shell company, to earn high amounts of money without dealing with customs.

The officials transfer the timber to the shell company, which sells it to a second company that has trade ties with Asian countries. The second company then sends the timber to Chinese peers.

The process means that the ONF is not doing any direct trade transactions outside EU countries, the report said.

It added that the ONF sold more than 2 million cubic meters of timber in 2021.