Monthly statistical trend summary of wood products in South Korea in November 2022

The cumulative statistical results of timber imports in November 2022 showed that the year-on-year amount increased by 8.2%, 0.3 percentage points lower than the added value in October. As of November, the import volume of wood products had dropped by 0.1% over the same month last year. The import amount increased by 8.2%, and the import unit price increased by about 8.2%.

The cumulative import value of logs decreased by 12.8% and that of sawntimber decreased by 17.4% compared with the previous year. The number decreased by 13.6% and 12.6% over the same month of the previous year. As of November, the cumulative amount of plywood decreased by 5.37% and the cumulative amount decreased by 11.9% compared with the same month of the previous year. With the increase in the use of veneer by domestic plywood companies, the import of veneer increased by 15.3%. The import of MDF decreased by 2.9% and the number of chips (particles) increased by 15.6%. The import of charcoal increased by 21.1% year on year.

By November 2022, the import unit price of most wood products has increased by 0.9% year-on-year, plywood by 7.5%, MDF by 9.3%, chip (particle) by 38.7% and veneer by 1.4%. Timber fell by 6.2% and floor by 2.5%.

The total amount of timber imports is in the order of Vietnam>Indonesia>China>Canada>USA>New Zealand. Compared to the same month of the previous year, the total amount of imports of timber products increased by 8.2%, the amount of imports decreased by 0.1%, and the unit price of imports increased by 8.3%. Of the total import value of timber, Vietnam accounted for 15.7% and 27.7% in volume.

Source: Korea Forest Service statistics on import and export of forest products