The costs of FSC certification mainly include direct costs and indirect costs:

Direct Costs - Direct costs are the costs of the certification itself, such as FSC certification assessment and audit fees, salaries and travel expenses of certified personnel, etc. This kind of cost is fixed.

Indirect Costs - Indirect costs are additional costs required to meet certification standards. Such as the cost of adjusting the long-term forest management plan and forest operating procedures, improving the management level of the forest, training the production personnel, etc., and the labor hours and documents to meet the requirements of FSC certification.

The cost of FSC certification depends on several factors:

①Certified area. Generally speaking, the larger the forest area, the higher the certification fee, but the certification fee does not increase proportionally. Usually, the larger the forest area applying for certification, the lower the average certification fee per unit forest area. Include eligible woodlands all at once to reduce certification costs. Do not certify separately in small pieces.

②Is the distribution of locations scattered or concentrated. The more scattered the forest, the more places the auditors need to see, and the longer the journey and time, so the cost is naturally higher.

③The distance of the certification company. If the certification body is far away from the ocean, the travel expenses for the certification personnel to arrive at the site are naturally much higher. At present, there is no permanent establishment of certification companies in China, and relatively recently, there are only some branches of certification companies in Asian countries.

④ The number of foreign experts in the certification team. The foreign experts in the certification team are mainly from developed countries such as Europe and the United States. Their salary levels are several orders of magnitude higher, and the transportation costs for them to reach the forest site from abroad are also much higher. Remuneration for domestic experts is much lower. Therefore, having one foreign expert or two foreign experts in the certification team has a great influence on the certification fee.

⑤ The profit that the certification company expects to make. This gap can only be drawn from a multi-faceted comparison.

Generally, the total cost of FSC/COC certification is about 30,000 to 100,000. It depends on factors such as company size, sales, number of personnel, and the number of sites.