US Dollar Exchange Rates of
25th
Mar
2025
China Yuan 7.27
Report from China
Rise in fibreboard exports to Vietnam
According to China Customs fibreboard exports to
Vietnam, the largest market in 2024, more than doubled to
366,000 tonnes year on year. China’s fibreboard exports to
Saudi Arabia, as the second largest destination in 2024
rose 82% year on year to 332,000 tonnes.
For other markets export growth rates in 2024 varied
leading to an overall increase in export tonnages of 25%
compared to a year earlier. China’s fibreboard exports to
the USA in 2024 rose 14% over 2023 level. China’s 2024
fibreboard exports to Algeria alone fell year on year.
Rise in fibreboard imports
According to China Customs, in 2024 fibreboard imports
were 53,500 tonnes valued at US$47 million, up 4% in
volume but down 5% in value year on year.
New Zealand and Thailand were the two top suppliers of
China’s fibreboard imports in 2024. Imports from New
Zealand and Thailand rose 15% and 12% to 16,800 tonnes
and 92,000 tonnes respectively compared to 2023 levels.
China’s fibreboard imports from Romania and Australia in
2024 surged over 100% and 300% respectively year on
year. In contrast, China’s fibreboard imports from
Germany and Spain in 2024 fell 28% and 25% compared
to 2023 levels.
Rise in wooden furniture exports in 2024
China Customs has reported wooden furniture exports in
2024 rose 2% to US$24.57 billion year on year. The USA
was the largest market for China’s wooden furniture
exports. Nearly 30% of China’s wooden furniture was
exported to the USA in 2024.
China’s wooden furniture is exported to more than 200
countries. The value of China’s furniture exports to the top
5 countries, the U.S., the UK, Australia, Japan and South
Korea earned more than US$12 billion and accounted for
just 52% of the national total in 2024.
China’s wooden furniture exports to the UK and Australia
in 2024 rose 10% and 8% respectively year on year. In
contrast, China’s wooden furniture exports to Japan and
South Korea in 2024 dropped 6% and 22% respectively
year on year.
Decline in wooden furniture imports
China’s wooden furniture imports in 2024 fell 15% to
US$654 million year on year. Italy, Germany and
Vietnam were the top 3 suppliers of China’s wooden
furniture imports. 71% of China’s wooden furniture were
imported from the 3 countries but fell 13%, 10% and 15%
to US$299 million, US$102 million and US$63 million
respectively in 2024.
The main reason for the large decline in China's wooden
furniture imports in 2024 was because domestic demand
for furniture had fallen sharply due to the downturn in
China's real estate sector.
Decline in fibreboard production capacity in 2024
According to the statistics from the Academy of Industry
Development and Planning under the National Forestry
and Grassland Administration and the China Forestry
Products Industry Association (CFPIA), both the number
of enterprises and production capacity of China’s
fibreboard industry continued to decline in 2024.
However, the average single-line production capacity
continued to rise in 2024.
By the end of 2024, the 240 fibreboard production
enterprises had 265 production lines and factories were
distributed across 20 provinces with a total annual
production capacity of 41.83 million cubic metres, down
9% year-on-year, a sharp decline over the past four
consecutive years.
Six fibreboard production lines were built in 2024 and put
into operation adding an additional production capacity of
820,000 cubic meters per year.
GTI report for February 2025
To boost domestic demand and promote high-standard
production, China has adjusted import tariff rates for
certain goods in 2025. Among them, tariffs on some
imported wood products—including veneer, wood
flooring, fiberboard, plywood, wooden doors, wooden
formwork, wooden pallets, wooden tools, cork and cork
products, etc have been revised. Most wood products
continue to enjoy a provisional tax rate of 0% maintaining
the policy implemented in 2024.
Data from China's National Forestry and Grassland
Administration shows that the total output value of
China’s forestry industry reached 10.17 trillion yuan in
2024 marking a year-on-year growth of 9.6%.
A key driver behind the growth is timber production in the
country which reached 137 million cubic metres in 2024,
representing an 8% increase compared to 2023.
Recently, many shipping companies announced a new
round of price increases for certain routes in March adding
cost pressures on Chinese wood importers. In response,
some enterprises plan to mitigate these challenges by
diversifying transportation methods and expanding their
procurement sources.
In February 2025, the GTI-China index registered 44.1%,
an increase of 4.6 percentage points from the previous
month and has been below the critical value (50%) for 4
consecutive months indicating that the business prosperity
of the timber enterprises represented by the GTI-China
index shrank from the previous month, however, the pace
of contraction eased.
In February China's traditional Spring Festival holiday
slowed down production and operations in the timber
sector. However, as the holiday impact was diminishing
enterprises were relatively optimistic about the overall
trend of the timber market over the next six months.
As for the twelve sub-indexes, the indices for delivery
time and market expectation were above the critical value
of 50%, the indices for imports and purchase price were at
the critical value, while the remaining eight indices
(production, new orders, export orders, existing orders,
inventory of finished products, purchase quantity,
inventory of main raw materials and employment) were all
below the critical value.
Compared to the previous month, the indicess for
production, new orders, export orders, existing orders,
inventory of finished products, purchase quantity, import,
inventory of main raw materials, employees, delivery time
and market expectation increased by 1.1-11.7 percentage
points and the index for purchase price declined by 0.5
percentage point.
 
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