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US Dollar Exchange Rates of
10th
Aug
2023 Making property buying
easier The measures proposed include easing restrictions on second home purchases and reducing down payments for first-time homebuyers. But home prices continue to drop and with prohibitively high interest rates the sector is facing serious challenges. Two years after Evergrande's default triggered chaos in global markets another developer, Country Garden, appears on the brink of a crisis. Country Garden, which has developments in almost every province in China, is the latest developer to be struggling against high interest rates falling home prices and government the restrictions that are now under review. It has been reported that Country Garden, the country's biggest private-sector developer by sales, missed interest payments on two US-dollar-denominated bonds. A Bloomberg analyst, wrote: "any default would impact China's housing market more than Evergrande's collapse as Country Garden has four times as many projects." Another decline in log imports Of total log imports, softwood log imports fell 2% to 14.87 million cubic metres, accounting for 73% of the national total, up 5% from the same period of 2022. The average price for imported softwood logs declined 10% to US$145 (CIF) per cubic metre over the same period of 2022.
Sharp decline in log
imports from Russia Secondly, Russia increased the export tax rate on logs which has put a lot of pressure on Chinese enterprises resulting in a sharp decline in log imports from Russia. Also, China’s log imports from Germany and PNG dropped 27% and 7% respectively in the first half of this year compared to the same period in 2022. The decline in log supplies from the three major suppliers, Germany, PNG and directly resulted in the decrease in the total national imports in the first half of 2023. However, China’s log imports from Poland surged over 300% to 670,000 cubic metere in the first half of 2023. The forests of Poland were affected by severe storms in 2017. Nearly 10 million cubic metres of logs were windblown and much of this has been harvested and exported to China. China’s log imports from Poland have been increasing since 2017. China’s log imports from Poland in 2018 surged over 700%. Decline in hardwood log imports in the first half of
2023 Of total hardwood log imports, tropical log imports were 2.95 million cubic metres valued at US$761 million CIF, down 28% in volume and 35% in value from the same period of 2022 and accounted for 15% of total first half 2023 log imports, down 2% over the same period of 2022. The average price for imported tropical logs was US$258 CIF per cubic metre, down 9% from the same period of 2022. Before its log export ban, Myanmar was a major source of tropical logs for China. However, China’s log imports from Myanmar have been decreasing for many years. China’s log imports from Myanmar fell 38% to 2,267 cubic metres in volume and 44% in value to US$2.47 million in the first half of 2023. The average price for imported logs from Myanmar declined 9% to US$1,090 (CIF) per cubic metre in the first half of 2023. Imports from Australia resume China imported just 6,091cubic metres of sawnwood from Australia in the first half of 2023 valued at US$3.99 million, up 39% in volume and 42% in value over the same period of 2023. China’s log imports from Australia virtually stopped because of a ban by the quarantine service which said it detected pests. Since the beginning of 2020 the quarantine service has repeatedly detected live pests such as the long horn beetle, Cerambycidae and jewel beetles, Buprestidae in logs imported from Australia. Decline in tropical log imports The reduction in tropical log imports from the largest supplier, PNG, resulted in the overall decline in tropical log imports in the first half of 2023. China’s tropical log imports from the fourth largest suppliers, Cameroon, fell 7% to 211,000 cubic metres. China’s tropical log imports from Honduras surged in the first half of 2023. However, China’s tropical log imports from the DRC, Mozambique and Equatorial Guinea declined 50%, 68% and 84% respectively. Invitation - Global Legal and Sustainable Timber Forum
2023 The theme of the first GLSTF (2023) is ‘Connect, Cooperate and Share to Promote the Recovery of the Global Tropical Timber Market’. The Forum will be co-hosted by ITTO and the Macao Trade and Investment Promotion Institute (IPIM) and is being organised by the Secretariat of the Global Green Supply Chain Initiative (GGSC). Selected speakers and panelists and a limited number of participants from tropical timber supply countries will be sponsored. The organisers have arranged for simultaneous interpretation in English, French, Spanish, Portuguese and Chinese. The First Announcement with details, venue and contact points can be found at: https://www.itto.int/events/2023/11/22/lobal_legal_sustainable_timber_forum_glstf_2023/
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Source:ITTO' Tropical Timber Market Report |