Overview of timber sector of China

Supply chain actors

It is reported that China wood industry consists of 100,000 individual companies, and most of them are small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs). Data from China National Forest Product Industry Association show that there are more than 6,000 plywood manufacturers, more than 10,000 veneer mills, and 650 particleboard mills. National Economic Census showed China has 25,000 furniture manufacturers, while China Furniture Association says the number could be doubled if small mills were counted. More than 50% of China’s wood products manufacturers are privately owned (EFI, 2011). The industry has developed particularly in and around the ports of Zhangjiagang, Shanghai, Shenzhen, Lianyugang and Nanjing.

Production and processing

In order to meet this domestic and export-oriented demand, huge amounts of raw wood materials must be either produced domestically or imported from abroad. Domestic supply of industrial wood has failed to keep up with China’s industrial manufacturing capacity due to a low level of per-capita forest resources and the government’s policies on the protection of natural forests. To meet the wood supply deficit in the country, China has become the world’s largest importer of timber.

The reduction in housing construction in China has resulted in a substantial decline in the importation of forest products during 2015, reports the Wood Resource Quarterly (WRQ). The total value of imported softwood logs and lumber has fallen 25% and import prices have declined almost 30%. This has been a consequence of the slowdown in the Chinese economy, which has not only reduced construction activities but also consumer spending on home re-modelling and furniture.

Primary timber products are mainly processed and consumed within the country, as can be observed from the table below.

Export

The principal exported primary timber product is plywood, and to a much lesser extent sawnwood and veneer. The main products China exports are processed products, particularly wooden furniture, plywood, joinery and paper. No exact statistics on total number of wood processing mills in China exists.

The wide range of export destinations of the Chinese wood products industry can be observed from the graph below, although USA and Japan are the most important ones.

Data table

ITTO (2019), data 2017