This text studies the process of construction of a market for Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certified timber in the Brazilian Amazon. Forestry certification can be understood as a strategy developed from the 1990s by some environmental non-governmental organizations in an attempt to modify the working patterns of the world timber industry face the relative failure of the previous boycott policy of tropical timber. The process of construction of a market, as shown by several works in economic Sociology, always demand investments that facilitate the mechanism of commodity exchange. We try to show that, in the case of certified timber products, market construction unfolds from the criticism of the traditional market for tropical wood products and from the promotion of mechanisms that supported the growth of certified timber production. We also highlight the trajectory of the first firms who obtained the stamp of forestry certification in order to try to understand the likelihood that this market becomes dominant and therefore redirects forest exploitation in the Amazon towards standards closer to what could be nowadays considered a sustainable activity.
Economic Sociology; Sociology of Markets; forest industry; industry and environment; environmentalism; forestry certification; Amazon