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China's wood flooring demand growing fast could be 200 million sq. m by 2005

¡¾Feb.18, 2002¡¿

Wood Flooring Industry

China's entry into WTO, the successful bid for the Olympic Games, the continuous economic growth , rapid development of China's real estate industry and the continuous growth in house improvement have all provided a good marketing environment for the development of the wood flooring industry. According to estimates, sales of wood flooring exceeded 120 million square metres in 2001, some 20% higher than the previous year . According to local experts, China's wood flooring industry will probably grow at a rate of 20% per year for the next next five years and sales of wood flooring could reach 200 million square metres by 2005.

At the moment competition is fierce in wood flooring industry and prices are low and dumping by some producers has disrupted the market. A wide range of products of varying quality have been seen and imitation and low quality products have flooded some markets.

In order to address this situation, the Wood Flooring Committee of the China National Forest Products Industry Association held a members conference recently and determined the year 2002 as "Brand Image Year". It demanded all members to setup their own brand images, normalise behaviors of enterprises, protect the reputation of the industry by introducing quality tracking and sample checking as well as monitoring and after sales service by the Association.

China has canceled import tariffs of log and sawnwood, the intention is to further reduce import tariffs on finished and semi-finished timber products from 15-22% to 2-3%.

Furniture exports from Shenzhen led China's growth in furniture exports for 3 years. The value of furniture export from Shenzhen was US$ 800 million in 2000, accounting for one fourth of China's total furniture export value of US$ 3.5 billion. At present, there are over 1200 furniture enterprises altogether in Shenzhen with 150,000 staff, and annual output exceeds 15 billion yuan.

Imported timber has now entered the market of Tai Mountain through Shandong Province. Since December 2001, large diameter high-quality Russian timber (Larch and Mongolian Scots Pine) has been on sale and this has reactivated the timber market in Tai Mountain which previously relied on domestic timbers. The arrival of Russian timber not only alleviated the severe shortage of timber in this area, but also provide more choice for consumers.

According to the latest statistics, the average housing area per capita exceeded 20 square metres in the cities and towns in China in 2001, achieving a level equal to countries with medium income levels.