Growth in China’s wood trade has slowed this year to 16%, according to figures in the latest ITTO market report.
Imports and exports were valued at US$49.3bn between January-September, a slowdown of 15.6% compared to a year ago.
Imports grew by 21% to US$21.5bn and exports rose 13% to US$27.8bn.
China imported most of its 23 million m³ of logs from Russia (14.8 million m³). Next biggest was Papua New Guinea (1.8 million m³) and New Zealand (1.2 million m³).
Sawnwood imports totalled 5.2 million m³ and were worth US$1.5bn, while panel imports reached 234,500m³, valued at US$135m.
Chinese sawnwood exports totalled 547,000m³ (US$313m) and plywood shipments fell 13% by volume to 5.9 million m³. However, particleboard exports were up 35% by value to US$35.4 million m³.
