Sugherificio Molinas takes the stage at the 1st edition of the FSC® General Assembly

On Friday, 5 June, we took part in the 1st edition of the General Assembly of FSC® Certified Forests at the Presidential Estate of Castelporziano, in Rome.

The event was created as an institutional opportunity for dialogue, participation and the development of concrete relationships within the network, with the aim of highlighting the role of certified forests in the national environmental and cultural debate, while giving a voice to the different FSC®-certified organisations across Italy.

On this occasion, our agronomist Andrea Martinez was invited to share the experience of our cork company as a certified cork supply chain and as a model of a distinctive Mediterranean forest economy.

The relationship between FSC® and the Molinas Group began in 2021 with the Chain of Custody certification of Sugherificio Molinas. This was followed by the responsible Forest Management certification of a 99.3-hectare forest in Sardinia, owned by Società Agricola Limbara, a Molinas Group company, on 22 July 2021. This date is particularly significant because Società Agricola Limbara was the first Italian company to obtain FSC® certification for a privately owned cork oak forest.

This marked the creation of a fully owned, integrated and certified production supply chain, from forest to finished product. It has enabled the company to become more competitive on the market, while assuring end customers of a product sourced from responsible forest management: an added value for consumers that strengthens their trust in the product.

Between 2022 and 2024, two additional forests in Sardinia and one in Tuscany were certified, bringing the total area of FSC®-certified forests to approximately 338 hectares.

In June 2023, the sale of certified products began, involving different types of cork stoppers, from natural single-piece corks to sparkling wine corks and technical stoppers. In less than three years, this led to the sale of approximately 1,500,000 cork stoppers.

Since 2024, we have been members of FSC® Italy, with whom we seek to take an active part in the initiatives promoted, as in the case of the General Assembly.

Andrea Martinez concluded his speech with the following words:

“We hope that this collaboration, aimed at improving and maintaining the cork supply chain and its products over time, will also be supported by the standard itself, in the form of protection and safeguarding of the trademark, especially for those who, like Molinas, invest time, resources and money in a sector and in issues that are both important and competitive, and to which consumers are paying increasing attention.”