The Effect of Forest Certification on Log Sale Prices: A Case Study in Northwestern Turkey
Round 1
Reviewer 1 Report
The article presents research on the impact of the introduction of certification with sustainable forest management and the sale of timber in a manner consistent with ecological requirements.
The author presented a brief overview of research on the impact of certification on economic aspects of forest production. The main line of research related to the introduction of FSC certification in a selected region of Turkey is included.
The author rightly draws attention to the chain of connection of wood turnover and certified wood products. Attention has been given to the directions for countering illegal timber harvesting.
What was missing was a literature review indicating the level of predatory logging.
Some of the world's countries have a partial share of certified forests. The author did not present an example of the level of certification in individual European countries. It would have been good to present the level of forest certification in Turkey. Do all Forest Districts have forest certification?
The presented research data was obtained in 2018. Supply and demand are shown on the basis of records of timber sales by the Demirköy Forestry Company. The methodology of data collection is not objectionable.
The adopted hypotheses can be considered valid:
"H0: There is no difference between log sales prices in the pre- and post-certification periods at forestry companies in Turkey.
H1: There is a difference between log sales prices in the pre- and post-certification periods in forestry enterprises in Turkey. second period - 2 x the number of parameters. Then the calculated F-values according to equation (7) (Fcalculation) is compared with the Ftable value at a certain level of significance (0.05) and for those cases where Fcalculation > Ftable is obtained, there is a difference between the two periods and hypothesis H0 is rejected."
The presented results of changes in log supply and log prices show annual average values.
If the analysis results presented showed monthly change results, shouldn't the price fluctuation from year to year also be indicated? The author would thus better show how the seasonality of sales changes It is possible to indicate in the figure whether the introduction of the FSC affected the changes in demand and prices?
The distortion in the results is certainly 2012. Can the author attempt a statistical analysis excluding this year?
The study found references to other cost analysis of the introduction of FSC in forests around the world.
The indicated direction for future research is to be commended.
Proposals should include a more detailed statistical result. This is an important value necessary to indicate in the article.
Author Response
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Reviewer 2 Report
This article discusses customers' willingness to pay more for forest-certified products than non-certified products. For the direct impact of forest certification on economic value, it is helpful to promote forest certification and forest management. But I still have some concerns about the data and results used in this study that need further clarification.
1. Does Turkey need to pay other costs to obtain a forest certificate? Is there any possibility that the price premium exceeds the direct operating cost of the certification?
2. The data in this study regards the period 2010-2013 as pre-certificate and 2014-2017 as post-certificate. Therefore, when comparing the prices of forest certified products and non-certified products, it is equivalent to comparing the data before 2014 and after 2014. Is it possible that after 2014, the log market price was higher, and the price increase occurred? How to prove that the analysis results are not affected by the year difference, but the price difference caused by forest certification.
Author Response
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Reviewer 3 Report
The article titled ‘The effect of forest certification on log sale prices: a case study
in northwestern Turkey’ is an interesting paper; however, at the end of the abstract, there needs a recommendation.
Author Response
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