Forest stewardship has reached a milestone in the Asia Pacific, with more than 10,000 FSC Chain of Custody certifications.

The region's 10,077 CoCs is the second largest after Europe's 17,264.

The FSC says the APAC region has experienced "exponential growth" in the number of certificates issued in the past five years, increasing from 5,538 to 10,077 from 2012-2017, equivalent to 13 per cent annual growth.

China has the highest net increase in the actual number of CoC certificates, its 3032 certificates accounting for 67 per cent of the total increase. Vietnam comes second, followed by Hong Kong, India and Japan. Thailand (25 per cent) has the highest year-on-year growth, followed by China, Sri Lanka, Vietnam and the Philippines.

Interim director of FSC Asia Pacific Adam Beaumont says increasing awareness of corporate social responsibility benefits the robust growth in certification: "Over the past five years, we've seen an increasing number of brand owners and large national and multi-national businesses include responsible sourcing of forest products in their procurement policy."

Southeast Asian countries are expected to pick up the strong growth after China, with a 'Factory Asia' emerging, where countries such as Thailand, Vietnam and India are more involved in global supply chains.