In 2019 the past year has been an extremely difficult year for China’s foreign trade in timber and products, as well as a year of opportunities and challenges. Due to the decline in exports and the impact of domestic The reduction in the use of raw materials such as fiberboard, particleboard, and the tax imposed by China on the import of hardwood from the United States has affected the import of wood and wood-based panels.

In addition, due to the shrinking international forest product market and fierce competition in the forest product market, China's exports of wood processing products such as medium and high-density fiberboard, solid wood composite flooring and wooden furniture have declined.

However, 2019 is the most extraordinary year in the history of China’s development. After GDP reached RMB 99.09 trillion, the process of urbanization has accelerated, a large number of people have been lifted out of poverty and new jobs have been created. The impact of wood and wooden furniture Increasing demand for wood products, coupled with China's continued cessation of natural forest logging, has provided a market for the import of wood and related wood processing products.

Last year, the total value of China's timber and wood products trade was 56.172 billion U.S. dollars, a decrease of 12.11% over the previous year; among them, the import value was 22.983 billion U.S. dollars, a year-on-year decrease of 12.06%; the export value was 33.189 billion U.S. dollars, a year-on-year decrease of 12.14%.

 

Import side

1. Import of timber and processed products

Due to the reduction in the use of wood and wood-based panels in wooden furniture, and China's additional tariffs on imported hardwood timber from the United States, the amount of wood imported from the United States has been greatly reduced, which will affect imports in 2019.

(1) Timber imports

1. Log import

As China continues to stop logging of natural forests, coupled with China’s accelerated urbanization process, a large number of people lifted out of poverty, and new jobs, the demand for wood has increased. However, since June 1 last year, the import of hardwood timber from the United States After the levy of tariffs, many wood processing companies reduced imports from the United States, resulting in a significant reduction in China's imports of wood from the United States last year.

For example, the import of logs from the United States last year only completed 3,693,600 cubic meters, a decrease of 41% compared with the previous year, and the reduction reached 2.55 million cubic meters. Together with the decline in the output of wooden furniture, the growth rate of log imports was eased. Log imports were completed in 2019. 59,806,900 cubic meters, an increase of only 0.1% over the previous year, but the growth rate decreased by 7 percentage points.

After China imposed tariffs on hardwood timber, the number of logs imported from the United States dropped from the third place in China's log imports to the fifth place. The top 5 countries in terms of log imports from China are: New Zealand, Germany, the Russian Federation, Australia and the Czech Republic.

 

2. Import of sawn timber

The tariffs imposed on hardwood imports from the United States last year not only affected the import of logs, but also had a greater impact on the imports of sawn timber. For example, for companies importing oak from the United States, for example, in addition to 25% tariffs, 15% % VAT on sawn timber.

In this way, many wood processing companies reduced their imports from the United States, resulting in a substantial reduction in wood imports from the United States last year. For example, the United States saw only 1,765,800 cubic meters of sawn timber last year, a decrease of 39.03% from the previous year, and the reduction reached 1,130,300 cubic meters.

Because American wood is an important source of high-quality wood in China, it has a great impact on Chinese wooden furniture. In 2019, the import of sawn timber was 38,083,600 cubic meters, an increase of only 3.58% over the previous year. The top 5 countries in terms of China's sawn timber imports are Russia, Canada, Thailand, the United States and Finland.

 

(2) Import of wood-based panels

1. Imports of plywood have increased significantly

Due to the rapid development of China's plywood, the wood used is generally of finer diameter, which affects the quality of plywood. Therefore, plywood, solid wood composite flooring and templates must be imported from Russia and other countries to meet the needs of production and life.

In 2019, the imported plywood was 202,400 cubic meters, an increase of 24.15% over the previous year. The top five countries for plywood imports are Vietnam, Russia, Thailand, Malaysia and Tanzania.

 

 

2. Imported fiberboard

In order to meet the needs of laminate flooring production, China still has to import some medium and high-density fiberboards. In 2019, the import volume was 257,900 cubic meters, a decrease of 5.15% from the previous year.

The top five countries in the middle and high-density fiberboard imports are Germany, New Zealand, Australia, Switzerland and Indonesia.

3. Imported particleboard

Due to the decline in the output of wooden furniture last year, the demand for board types such as particleboard decreased, and imports were completed at 962,100 cubic meters, a decrease of 2.72% over the previous year. The top five import countries are Romania, Thailand, Malaysia, Brazil and Canada.

(3) Import of wooden furniture

With the improvement of people’s living standards, there is still a market for wooden furniture in Italy and other countries in China. However, due to the impact of real estate, the import of wooden furniture in 2019 was 7,453,900 pieces, a decrease of 15.89% from the previous year, and the import amount was US$766 million. A decrease of 17.01% over the previous year.

Wood processing products export

Due to the shrinking of the international market for wood processing products, some Southeast Asian companies such as Vietnam have seized the market at low prices. Competition in the international market is fierce, making China's exports of wood furniture, medium and high-density fiberboard and solid wood composite flooring encounter unprecedented difficulties.

Export side

1. Export of wood-based panels

(1) Plywood export

In recent years, China's plywood has developed rapidly. Due to overcapacity, many products have to look for foreign markets. However, in recent years, the international plywood market has shrunk and competition is fierce. The United States was once China's largest export market for plywood.

However, they have continuously suppressed Chinese products; they have raised the import threshold and restricted some products that do not meet the mandatory standards for formaldehyde emissions in the United States. In addition, the United States’ anti-dumping tax rate on parquet flooring has reached 13.74%, an increase of 9.03 over the past. Percentage points, which has a great impact on China's solid wood composite flooring exports.

Therefore, the export volume of plywood to the United States (including parquet) has been declining for several consecutive years after the anti-dumping tax on parquet. In 2019, it has retreated from China's largest plywood exporter to the fifth exporter position. Therefore, the export of China's plywood and solid wood composite flooring is very difficult. The top five countries for plywood export are as follows: Philippines, Vietnam, Japan, UAE and the United States.

In 2019, China's plywood exports completed 10.55 million cubic meters, a decrease of 11.33% over the previous year.

(2) Exports of medium and high density fiberboards declined

In recent years, after laminate flooring has been identified as "toxic flooring" by the United States, the international market for medium and high-density fiberboard and laminate flooring has been severely affected. It is really a fire in the city, causing fish ponds. Due to the impact of laminate flooring, the export volume of traditional exporting countries all declined in 2019. Under the passive situation of low medium and high-density fiberboard exports, after looking for export markets in an all-round way, certain performance was still achieved. The export volume of density fiberboard was 2,336,900 cubic meters, a decrease of 8.34% over the previous year.

The top five countries for fiberboard exports are Nigeria, the United States, Vietnam, Canada and the UAE.

(3) Export of particleboard

As China's particleboard production lines continue to increase, the output of high-quality particleboard has also continued to increase. However, in recent years, China's particleboard production capacity has been surplus. Therefore, many particleboard companies are looking for export markets. In 2019, China's particleboard export volume was 316,400 cubic meters, down 4.36% from the previous year.

The top five countries and regions: Mongolia, Taiwan, United Arab Emirates, South Korea and Saudi Arabia.

 

2. Export of wooden furniture

The United States is the most important export market for China's wooden furniture. In recent years, some companies in Southeast Asian countries such as Vietnam have seized the U.S. market at low prices, which has caused a continuous decline in the number and value of Chinese wooden furniture exported to the United States. For example, in 2019, the export volume fell by 10.02% on the basis of a 13% drop in the previous year. What is more serious is that the amount of wooden furniture exported to the United States dropped by 33.69% compared with the previous year, which made China’s largest wooden furniture export market suffer. Serious impact.

Under the passive situation of the sluggish export of traditional wooden furniture, we have tried every means to find the market and strengthened our exports to countries along the Belt and Road and Hong Kong. We still achieved good results. For example, our exports to Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia, etc. have been well received. Effect.

In 2019, the export volume of wooden furniture completed a total of 241,509,100 pieces, a decrease of 10.44% from the previous year. Among them, the United States completed 81,803,900 pieces, a decrease of 10.02% from the previous year, accounting for 33.87% of China's wooden furniture exports; the total amount of wooden furniture exports was completed 11.632 billion U.S. dollars, a decrease of 13.95% over the previous year, of which the United States completed 3.776 billion U.S. dollars, a decrease of 33.69% over the previous year, accounting for 32.46% of the export value of wooden furniture.

In the past year, as China continued to implement the cessation of natural forest logging, accelerated urbanization, a large number of people lifted out of poverty and new jobs, etc., this has increased the consumption of wood and related products, and provided for the import of wood and related products in China. The market.

However, China imposed tariffs on imports of hardwood timber from the United States, which affected the import volume of high-end timber from the United States. The export of wood processed products, due to the shrinking international wood processed product market and the establishment of various economic barriers in some developed countries, continues to suppress China's wood processed product trade.

In addition, Vietnam and other countries have adopted various preferential policies for the wood processing industry to attract many Chinese wood processing companies, especially Taiwan-funded companies to move into Vietnam, and their wooden furniture has seized the international market at low prices, especially the American furniture market. China's exports of wooden furniture, etc. cause difficulties.
 

Source: Global wood  trade network