US Dollar Exchange Rates of 25th January 2016
China Yuan 6.5713
Report from China
National real estate developments in 2015
China¡¯s National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) has released
its assessment of both housing developments and retail
sales in 2015.
On housing the press release from the NBS says total
investment in real estate was just 1% up on 2014 of which
investment in residential buildings was up 0.4% and
accounted for 67.3% of all real estate investment.
For more see:
http://www.stats.gov.cn/english/PressRelease/201601/t20160120
_1307100.html
In terms of land purchased for development the NBS says
that in 2015 there was a significant decline in purchases as
can be seen from the graph below.
Despite the very subdued housing market the Shanghai
Times of 25 January carried a story on rebounding home
sales in Shanghai where there was a more than 3% rise in
new home sales excluding government subsidised
affordable homes.
See: http://www.shanghaidaily.com/business/real-estate/Homebuying-
sentiment-rebounds-in-Shanghai/shdaily.shtml
Healthy retail sales of consumer goods in 2015
Retail sales of consumer goods in 2015 were up almost
11% year on year according to a data from the NBS.
Significantly sales of furniture expanded over 16%
compared to a year earlier.
For the NBS press release see:
http://www.stats.gov.cn/english/PressRelease/201601/t20160120
_1307123.html
Tax refund for wood-based panel producers
The Ministry of Environmental Protection recently issued
a list of products which, because they are considered as
environmentally friendly, will get special attention in the
revised Environmental Protection Regulation (2015
Edition).
The regulation list products that will benefit from tax
refunds and makes it clear that wood-based panel products
will are not categorised as ¡®high pollution and of high
environment risk¡¯ and as such wood-based panel
enterprises will enjoy 70% VAT tax refund.
Indian red sandalwood back to China¡¯s market
Some 604 cubic metres of Indian red sanders were
imported into China in November 2015 at an average price
of US$34,888 per cubic metre. Local analysts say that the
supply of sandalwood has declined and this has driven up
prices even though the boom in demand for sandalwood
products has eased recently.
In related news, local analysts forecast a continual rise in
redwood prices due to the addition of many more species
to the CITES list of endangered species. The additions to
CITES is a hot topic of discussion in China¡¯s redwood
industry as the implications on availability and prices may
be severe.
Falling composite flooring output
It has been reported that composite flooring output has
been falling. Year on year there was a drop of 10% in
March last year, a 5% fall April followed by drops of 7%
in May and 10% in June. The main reasons cited for the
decline are:
 Flooring enterprises have reduced
their
production because of weak domestic demand.
 Consumers have turned away from
composite
flooring because of concerns that formaldehyde
emission may be excessive.
 Solid wood radiant heat flooring is
very popular
and has captured market share.
Production and sales of solid radiant heat flooring
exceeded 25% in the first half of 2015.
Sharp increase in sawnwood imports through
Manzhouli Port
According to statistics from Manzhouli Customs,
sawnwood imports through Manzhouli Port soared 20% to
4.98 million cubic metres in 2015, accounting for one fifth
of the national imports. Around 90% of imported
sawnwood is korean pine, scots pine and larch.
Since 2008 sawnwood imports have increased over 300%,
from 1.20 million cubic meters in 2008 to 4.98 million
cubic meters in 2015. Now around 50% of timber imports
via Manzhouli Port is sawnwood which is slowly
overtaking log imports.
The main reasons for sharp increase in sawnwood imports
through Manzhouli is that the Russian government is
encouraging sawnwood exports and has imposed punitive
export tariffs on logs and because commercial logging has
been stopped in China¡¯s Northeast and Inner Mongolia
regions.
A good start for Caofeidian Port
At the beginning of this year two vessels with more than
44,000 cubic metres of timber from Canada berthed at
Caofeidian Port. The main species shipped were hemlock,
douglas fir and spruce all destined for Hebei, Tianjin and
Beijing.
The Caofeidian local government has plans to build a large
timber processing and distribution base in Northern China
and it is expected that more than 1 million cubic metres of
logs will be handled annually by the Port.
  
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