How Global Exotic Hardwoods Ltd and STS Sawmills Inc. are supporting Adding Value to Guyana’s Timber Industry
Guyana has the world’s second highest national forest cover at 86%, second only to its neighbour Suriname. It has one of the worlds lowest deforestation rates.
Due to its vast forest cover and intact forest areas, the UN regards Guyana as one of eight net zero nations. This takes into account the emissions from offshore oil and gas reserves, an Industry which is causing rapid development in the country.
Guyana is changing before our company’s eyes due to this booming industry sector. Guyana is fast becoming an economic power house but also the envy of the world as it has retained its forests and incredible biodiversity.
Despite the economic growth, the government want to maintain their sustainable forestry industry as it provides vital employment in rural areas. The government are proud of their forests which remain intact and with zoned low level logging in place. The National Forest Standard is enshrined in law, accredited by PEFC, operates to a very strict annual allowable cut and a 60 years rotation. This highly managed sustainable forestry safeguards the canopy and the biodiversity within.
As well as encouraging value add to their traditional sawmilling industry by way of low carbon housing timber frame and furniture markets. What the government of Guyana also want to encourage is the utilisation of more sawmill waste timber to develop further employment opportunities in the sector. So today a quiet transformation is underway which Global Exotic Hardwoods Ltd is proud to be a part of with their supplier company STS Sawmills Inc.
The first order which has come to the US is the creation of beautiful Purpleheart door wedges from what would previously have been scrap material. Our Scottish joinery customers are receiving them as Christmas gifts!
From Off-Cut Waste to Export Product
Purpleheart is one of Guyana’s most prized hardwoods: dense, durable, and naturally striking with its signature purple colour. It is widely used in construction and speciality joinery due to its durability and strength and equally highly prized in furniture and high-end woodworking due to its striking colour. Inevitably, cutting it for beams, boards, or components produces smaller pieces that historically had limited use.
By hand engineering these pieces into precision cut and CNC machined door wedges, the company has created a simple yet effective value-added product that due to its technical properties can be used both inside and outside and will last far longer than mainstream wedges.
Door wedges might seem like a small product, but small products can carry meaningful impact!
A New Pathway for Economic Diversification
What makes this initiative especially important is where the value is being generated.
By introducing secondary manufacturing and craft-based production, Global Exotic Hardwoods and STS Sawmills Inc are helping to diversify local employment opportunities beyond the sawmill gate.
Creating Purpleheart door wedges requires:
- Hand cutting and shaping,
- Hand sanding and finishing,
- packaging,
- logistics coordination,
- and quality control.
Each of these steps can be carried out by small teams or micro-enterprises, opening the door for community-based and female employment in areas not formally linked to larger-scale timber operations.
Over time, initiatives like this can support an ecosystem of small manufacturers capable of producing other high-value wooden goods—from kitchenware to joinery components and bespoke craft items. This is our supply chain goal.
Sustainability at the Core
Adding value to off-cuts has an environmental benefit as well. Historically, large sections of waste wood from tropical hardwood milling might be used to reclaim land, but the smaller offcuts would be burned or left to rot. There is no internal briquette market as yet and the biomass industry has not reached Guyana as yet in any real way due to limited supply chain around this. So there is very little existing utilisation of sawmill waste.
Turning these remnants into viable household products means:
- Less waste in the production cycle
- Higher material yield per harvested log
- Better carbon retention, as the timber becomes long-lived consumer goods rather than waste biomass
- Reduced pressure on forests, since more value is extracted from each tree harvested
- Economic gain as small off-cuts are turned into high-value household products.
- New manufacturing hubs emerge in rural communities with particular employment opportunities for women
- Craftspeople gain new opportunities for training and income such as use of CNC machines.
In the context of global scrutiny of tropical forest management, this kind of improved efficiency strengthens Guyana’s reputation as a premier responsible timber producer.
A First Step—With Many More to Come
The Purpleheart door wedge is just the beginning. STS Inc is working hard on the development of a thriving value-added timber sector. www.fromtheguyanaforest.com shows some of these items. It takes time, prototypes, and hard work in training people to do the work.
The door wedge initiative may seem simple, but it signals a valuable shift within the sawmilling timber supply chain within Guyana. There is a national appetite to move to increase the national capability in the range of timber products coming from the country. Realising the full value of the felled timber by encouraging craftsmanship, skill, and ingenuity We are very proud to be a part of the process.
As Guyana continues to position itself as a leader in sustainable forest management, initiatives like this—practical, scalable, and community-oriented—will be key to transforming the timber industry for a new generation.