Bridges Trade BioRes • Volume 10 • Number 3 • 22nd February 2010
Chinese Forest Product Exports Surge over Past Decade
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China has moved from being a modest player in the world’s forest products markets, to one of the leading exporters of manufactured forest products over the past ten years, according to a new joint study by the UN Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) and the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).
According to the study, entitled “The Importance of China’s Forest products Markets to the UNECE Region,” the growth of China’s forest sector has mirrored the spectacular growth of the country’s GDP. In 2008, the country’s forest sector accounted for some 4.8 percent of total Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
The study found that as an exporter of some eight percent of the world’s forest products exports, China is now the world’s fifth largest exporter of overall forest products and the largest exporter of furniture - having overtaken Italy in 2005. Overwhelmingly, the most important markets for China’s forest products are Europe and North America.
The study also found that despite the primarily export-oriented nature of the furniture market, domestic consumption of manufactured wood products is likely to expand as China’s wealth increases.
According to 2008 data, China boasts 195.5 million hectares of forest, making it the fifth largest country in the world in terms of forest reserves. But despite these large reserves and intensive public programmes aimed at planting of new forests over the past decade, demand for raw timber far exceeds the capacity of China’s domestic forestry sector.
Thus, China’s massive need for pulp and paper and industrial roundwood has made China the world’s third largest importer of forest products.
According to the study, the expansion of Chinese production is likely to continue to increase in coming years and the country will continue to have a strong impact on the global forest products market. And while the country is expected to expand domestic timber harvesting to help feed the manufacturing industry, its heavy dependency on imported wood is likely to continue.
In the context of the forestry products sector, the report also looks at the role GDP and population, the appreciation of the yuan and its impact on trade, the global economic crisis and its impact on China’s forestry sector, the role of the forestry sector in China’s economy, forestry related government policy, corporate social responsibility (CSR), major forestry institutions in China, and Chinese education and training in the sector.
More information
The UNECE/FAO paper can be accessed here: http://timber.unece.org/fileadmin/DAM/publications/dp-57.pdf
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