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US
Dollar Exchange Rates of 15th May. 2008
China Yuan
7.0026
Report from China
China National Forestry Certification Center to open soon
Woodmarkets.com has released news that the China
National Forestry Certification Center is expected to open
in 2008 and will provide national certification to the China
forest and wood production industry. The center will
promote a national scheme called China Forestry
Certification, which will set a forest management standard
and a chain of custody standard. The certification
standards were drafted by the Chinese Academy of
Forestry (CAF) and draws from other international
systems such as the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) and
the Pan-European Forest Certification and others. Mr. Xu,
the Director of the Research and Promotion Center of
Forest Certification in the CAF said that the costs of the
Chinese certification system are lower than FSC¡¯s, but he
recognized the difficulty the system would face since it
was not yet recognized in international markets. The SFA
is working on a scheme to promote the national
certification standards in the international markets.
First quarter results show slowdown in imports
China customs recently released data on its imports and
exports during the first quarter of 2008.
1.1 Imports
Logs
According to the latest statistics issued by Chinese
customs, 8,514,700 m3 of logs were imported in China
during the first quarter of this year, valued at about
USD1.4 billion, down 11.53 % in volume and up 8.15 %
in value from the same period in 2007. Of the total log
imports, softwood imports were 5.25 million m3, valued at
USD631.4 million, accounting for 61.7% and 45.1%
respectively. Hardwood imports were 3.26 million m3 and
valued at USD768.6 million, amounting to 38.3% and
54.9%, respectively. During the same period, tropical log
imports accounted for 1.04 million m3, making up 12.17%
of total imports.
Russia remained the largest supplier of logs to China. A
total of 5.88 million m3 of logs were imported from
Russia, which accounted for 69% of the total imports.
Countries supplying over 10,000 m3 of logs are shown in
Table 1.
The following table shows the regions (customs) which
imported over 10,000 m3 of logs at first quarter of 2008.
Sawnwood
A total of 1.53 million m3 of sawnwood were imported in
the first quarter of 2008, valued at USD428.35 million, up
8.4% and 11.5%, respectively, over the same period in
2007. Softwood sawnwood imports were 0.72 million m3
and valued at USD139.24 million, making up 47.2% and
32.55% of the total respectively. Hardwood sawnwood
imports were 0.81 million m3, valued at USD289.11
million, accounting for 52.8% and 67.5% respectively.
The major suppliers of sawnwood to China are shown in
Table 3.
Wood-based-panels
Plywood: A total of 77,700 m3 of plywood were imported
and valued at USD44.48 million, up 1.1% and 12.5%,
respectively, over the last year. Indonesia and Malaysia
were still the main suppliers. The import volume and value
from Indonesia were 40,500 m3 and USD22.41 million,
accounting for 52.1% and 50.4% of the total, respectively.
The import volume and value from Malaysia was 24,900
m3 and USD11.56 million, accounting for 32% and 26%
of the total, respectively.
Wood pulp: A total of 2.44 million tons of wood pulp were
imported, valued at USD1,733.18 million, up 22.2% and
40.3% from last year respectively. The major suppliers of
wood pulp were shown in Table 5.
Waste paper: A total of 5.92 million tons of waste paper
were imported, valued at USD1,309.56 million, down
0.7% and up 38.1% from last year, respectively. The
imports of waste paper were mainly from the US, EU,
Japan and Hong Kong SAR (Table 6).
Paper, board and paper product: A total of 883,800 tons of
paper, board and paper products were imported, valued at
USD1,000.91 million. The imports mainly came from
USA, Japan and Taiwan SAR (Table 7).
Wooden furniture: A total of 849,800 pieces of wooden
furniture were imported, valued at USD68.94 million, up
139.78% and 107.5% from last year respectively.
1.2 Exports
Sawnwood
A total of 162,800 m3 of sawnwood were exported in the
first quarter of 2008, down 7.6% in volume, and valued at
USD89 million, up 0.2% from the same period of 2007.
The importing countries of China¡¯s sawnwood were Japan
(74,900 m3), Korea (19,800 m3) and USA (15,900 m3),
accounting for 46%, 12.2% and 9.8% of the total,
respectively.
Plywood
A total of 1.62 million m3 of plywood was exported at first
quarter of 2008, down 14.9%, and valued at USD744
million, a 4.5% increase from 2007. Plywood was
exported to over one hundred countries, major importing
countries were the US (331,700 m3), Japan (130,000 m3)
and UAE (109,100 m3), making up 20.5%, 8.0% and
6.75% of the total respectively; Qingdao, Nanjing and
Shanghai were the main export ports which were closed to
productive areas (Table 7 above).
Wooden furniture
A total of 55.17 million pieces of wooden furniture were
exported, valued at USD2,347.49 million, down 8.7% and
up 6.1% from last year respectively. The major imported
countries and regions are shown in Table 8.
In terms of mode of trade, processing with imported
materials and processing with materials supplied by clients
amounted to USD827.28 million or 35.2% of the total
exports.
For paper, board and paper products, a total of 1.68
million tons of paper and board were exported, up 24.3%,
and valued at USD1,730.21 million, a 22% jump from
2007. Exports of fiberboard decreased considerably at first
quarter of 2008. A total of 496,700 tons of fiberboard was
exported, valued at USD 255.88 million, down 15.7% and
up 4.1% from last year respectively. However, the export
of particle increased significantly.
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