China Focus




 

China is one of the biggest timber and timber products consuming countries in the world.  It is forecast that the consumption of timber and timber products such as sawn timber, plywood, sliced veneer, fiber boards, woodchips, pulp logs, sawn logs and veneer, rough sawn flooring tiles, finished flooring tiles etc in China will continue to increase rapidly in the next decade due to strong economic growth, a surging real estate and construction sector, the 2008 Olympic Games, the 2010 World Expo, and urbanization.  It is also forecast that China’s furniture production will exceed that of Italy and become the No. 1 furniture production and export country in the world by 2010.   China will not be able to satisfy its domestic wood product requirements for decades to come and a significant amount of the future wood product requirement will have to be sourced from overseas countries.

 
 

 


Growth areas for business and employment

  • Import of timber and timber products

  • Import of advanced pulp and paper making machinery and technology

  • Import of wood and paper recycling machinery and technology

  • Timber processing

  • Paper making

  • Interior decoration and renovation design, and related timber products

  • Introduction, development and commercialization of new tree species for timber and wood chip production, erosion and desertification control and revitalization of degraded land due to salinity, water logging and chemical contamination.

  • Forestry management and environmental protection know-how

  • Training


Russia is China’s biggest timber supplier due to competitive timber prices, similarity in tree species, preferential import policies and proximity to China.  Other major suppliers of timber to China include Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, US, New Zealand and Canada.  Shipping will be a key cost factor in the international trade of timber and timber products as freight rates continue to increase sharply due to surging demand for international shipping services – particularly China.  

China is one of the 5 largest producers of industrial wood (others are US, Canada, Russia and Brazil) and the second largest producer of fire wood after India.

Apart from World Bank, Asia Development Bank and foreign aid projects, many multinational forestry and timber product companies are investing heavily in China.

Much foreign investment has been focused on fast-growing and high-yielding plantations such as Eucalyptus, timber and bamboo processing, wood chip, pulp and paper making.

China is in the process of building a 5 million hectare fast-grow high-yielding forestry base valued at AUD35 billion for paper production.

As a result of WTO accession, Chinese tariffs on imported forestry products have declined significantly.

China’s 10th 5-year plan and the long-term development objectives of the forestry industry are to ensure the sustainable protection and utilization of its forestry resources.
 

  
 

 

 

  
 

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