US
Dollar Exchange Rates of 16th August
2007
China Yuan
7.584
Report from China
China posts strong results in wood products trade
According to the latest statistics data from China¡¯s customs agency, China¡¯s wood products
trade in the first half of 2007 continued to show dramatic increases. Imports for raw material
commodities such as logs, paper pulp, waste paper and wood chips rose dramatically, and
wooden furniture imports surged. However, imports for wood-based panel (including plywood,
fiberboard and particle board) continued to decline at a higher rate. Despite this trend, four kinds of commodities represented
by wooden furniture, paper and paper products, as well as plywood were the leading products exported with export
value topping US$11.5 million, making up 78.5£¥ of the national total. In addition, exports of fiberboard, resin and
resin products also increased at a higher rate but exports for raw materials commodities such as sawnwood, wood
chips and charcoal showed a marked declining trend.
1.1 Imports
Log
China¡¯s log imports in the first half of 2007 were 20 million m3 and worth US$2.7 billion, a year on year
increase of 20.3 in volume and 45.6% in value. Of the total, softwood log imports
amounted to 12.5 million m3, valued at US$1.2 billion. Hardwood log imports amounted
to 7.4 million m3 and were valued at US$1.5 billion. Softwood and hardwood log imports were up
20.1% and 20.7%, respectively, from the same period last year. The value of softwood and
hardwood log imports were up 41.7% and 48.9%, respectively, from the same period last
year. Among hardwood log imports, tropical log imports were about 4.46 million m3, up 20.7% from the same
period last year.
Log imports still came mainly from Russia, up 18.9% from the same period last year. However, the proportion of
log imports from Russia fell slightly from 70.8% in the first half of 2006 to 70% in the first half of 2007. The top
10 supplying countries are listed in Table 1.
Manzhouli Port received the largest amount of log imports at 6.38 million m3, accounting for
31.9% of the national total. Harbin Port was the second largest with log imports
of 4.29 million m3, making up 21.5% of the national total. Log imports through Nanjing Port (mainly
Zhangjiagang City) was ranked third (4.20 million m3), but the value of log imports through
Nanjing Port topped US$891 million, consisting of 32% of the national total (see Table 2).
Sawnwood
In the first half of 2007, sawnwood imports rose slightly. Imports were 3.1 million m3 worth
US 843 million, up 1.6% in volume and 4.8% in value from the same period last year. There are
eight countries supplying China¡¯s sawnwood imports (see Table 3).
The main region importing sawnwood were coastal cities in Guangdong. In the first half of 2007,
sawnwood imports to Guangdong (mainly through Shenzhen and Guangzhou) were 1.0 million
m3, accounting for 32.8% of the national total. Sawnwood imports through Shanghai were
651,600 m3, making up 20.9%. Sawnwood imports recorded by Manzhouli customs agency
were 480,400 m3, accounting for 15.4% (see Table 4).
Wood-based panels
Wood-based panel imports continued to decline compared with that in the same period of 2006. Of the total, plywood
imports were 159,700 m3 worth US$89.3 million, down 32.1% in volume and 17.4% in value from the same period
in 2006. Fiberboard imports and import values came to
238,600 tons and US$90.1 million, down 18.3% in volume and 8.4% in value from the same
period in 2006. Particle board imports and import values amounted to 146,700 tons
and US$47.1 million, down 24.1% in volume and 10.8% in value from the same period in 2006. Imported
plywood was mainly from Indonesia and Malaysia.
Wood pulp, paper and paper products, waste paper
Wood pulp, paper and paper products, as well as waste paper were still the leading imported
wood products. In the first half of 2007, wood pulp imports were 4.2 million
tons worth US$2.6 billion, up 2.5% and 25.4% from the same period in 2006. The imports of pulp and paper
products amounted to 2.2 million tons worth US$2.172 billion. Waste paper imports came to
11.7 million tons worth US$ 1.974 billion. The import value for these three
commodities reached US$6.79 billion, making up 59.4% of the total value for all wood products.
China¡¯s imported paper pulp was mainly from Russia, Indonesia and the US. China¡¯s waste
paper was mainly from the US, Japan, UK and the Netherlands (see Table 5).
Wooden furniture
Wooden furniture was one of the major wood products experiencing the fastest growth. In the
first half of 2007, the value of wooden furniture imports were 860,900 pieces
worth US$74.138 million, up 46.7% in value from the same period in 2006.
Charcoal, activated carbon and wood chips
The growth of charcoal, activated carbon and wood chips are fastest. The growth rates of
charcoal and activated carbon imports were highest, although their imports were
not large and amounted to 31,300 tons and 5,100 tons, respectively. Wood chips imports came to 470,400
tones valued at US$61.968 million, up 46.2% in volume and 42.2% in value from the same
period in 2006. At present, China has been a net import country from pure export
country in terms of wood chips and charcoal.
1.2 Exports
Four major commodities (wooden furniture, paper and paper products, wooden products and
plywood) are the leading exported products and fastest growing products.
Wooden furniture
In the first half of 2007, the value of all kinds of wooden furniture (wooden frame seats, office
furniture, kitchen furniture, bedroom furniture) exports totaled 132 million
pieces worth US$4.863 billion. The destinations of China¡¯s wooden furniture exports were quite diversified
over 100 countries and regions. Among these countries and regions, China¡¯s wooden furniture exports to the US,
Hong Kong, the UK and Japan were the largest. According to the latest statistics from China Customs, in the first half
of 2006 the value of China¡¯s wooden furniture exports to these countries and regions was 27.3%, 11.5%, 10.5%,
9.4% respectively. In the first half of 2007, the value of wooden furniture exports processing with imported
materials was US$1.755 billion, making up 36.1% of the national total for wooden furniture export value.
Paper, paperboard, paper products
Paper, paperboard, paper products exports were 2.98 million tons valued at US$3.1 billion.
Paper and paper products imports had been declining and their exports continued to grow in recent years.
¡®Other¡¯ wooden products
China exports many kinds of other wooden products and include wooden doors and windows. In the first half of
2007, all kinds of other wooden products exports were 1.09 million tons earning
US$1.8 billion, up 6.5% in volume and 12.9% in value. Of the total, the value of
building materials exports was US$510 million (making up 28%), the value of handicraft exports was US$442
million (24.3%), the value of wooden tableware and kitchen utensils exports was US$163
million (8.9%), the value of others exports was US$690 million (37.9%).
Wood-based panels
Plywood
In the first half of 2007, plywood exports continued to grow and were 4.5 million m3, earning US$1.7 billion, up
27.8% in volume and 42.3% in value from the same period in 2006.
China¡¯s plywood exports to the U.S. were largest, making up 21% of the national total. The top
countries importing above 100,000 m3 of China¡¯s plywood are shown in Table
6.
In the first half of 2007, Nanjing Port, Qingdao Port and Shanghai Port were the main ports of
export for plywood. Sawnwood exports through these ports made up 40.2%, 33.5% and 10.7%, respectively, of the national total (see Table 7).
Sawnwood, wood chips, charcoal and special shaped timber
In the first half of 2007, China¡¯s sawnwood and special shaped timber exports totaled 412,100
m3 and 245,100 tons, down 6.4% and 1.8% respectively. However, the value of sawnwood and special shaped timber exports
grew because their unit prices rose, earning foreign exchange of US$204 million and US$361 million, up 20%
and 2.9%, respectively, from the same period in 2006.
China¡¯s sawnwood exports were mainly exported to Japan (57.4%) and little sawnwood was
exported to other countries and regions.
China¡¯s sawnwood exports were mainly through Dalian, Qingdao, Nanjing and Shanghai. In the
first half of 2007, sawnwood exports through Dalian, Qingdao, Nanjing and Shanghai accounted for 41.2%, 19.3%, 6.9% of the
national total.
Both the volume and the value of wood chips and charcoal exports fell to some extent. Wood
chips exports totaled 209,000 tons valued at US$24.135 million, down 40.6% in
volume and 35.6% in value. Charcoal exports amounted to 20,400 tons worth US$10.18 million, down 11.3% in
volume and 17.4% in value.
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