Files
Details
Title
Meeting China’s Demands for Imported Wood and Wood Fibre
Author(s)
Midgley, Stephen
Issue Date
Aug 16 2005
Publication Type
Conference Paper/ Presentation
DOI and Other Identifiers
10.22004/ag.econ.124409
Record Identifier
https://ageconsearch.umn.edu/record/124409
PURL Identifier
http://purl.umn.edu/124409
Language
English
Total Pages
11
Note
China has developed a large, flourishing and rapidly
modernising wood and wood fibre industry.
China consumes an estimated 365 million m3
(roundwood equivalent) of wood and wood fibre
annually and relies heavily upon imports. These
imports increased nearly 10-fold between 1996 and
2004 to 106 million m3, making China the world’s
largest importer of forest and wood products.
As China enjoys substantial economic growth,
buoyant housing construction and improving living
standards, it is likely that imports will continue to
expand. Wood and wood fibre imports for 2010 are
estimated to be about 120 million m3. This growth
offers opportunities and challenges for suppliers of
raw materials and services.
The high demand for wood has resulted in unscrupulous
suppliers trading logs from illegal sources,
and this trade has become a small but contentious
part of China’s wood supply. The illegal logging
which this trade fosters functions through a web of
interrelated networks of corrupt local authorities,
operators and loggers, banks willing to provide and
launder money, shipping companies, customs
agencies, manufacturers and an undiscriminating
and greedy market. Illegal logging is condemned
by the legitimate wood industry.
China has the world’s largest plantation forestry
estate totalling some 53 million ha and has an ambitious
plantation program to establish 13 million ha
of fast-growing high-yielding plantations by 2015.
There are divergent opinions as to whether China
will become self-sufficient in wood in the long term;
the main body of independent opinion suggests
that imports will remain a strong feature of the industry.
Experience gained through meeting China’s wood
demands offers the opportunity to be better prepared
for the impacts that India will undoubtedly
have on regional supplies of wood and wood fibre.
India’s GDP is growing strongly at 8.5% annually,
and it is expected that her population will exceed
that of China by 2030. It is inevitable that wood,
paper and board consumption will increase from a
very low base.
As forests and their products increasingly improve
the livelihoods of millions of people in China and
India, and provide benefits to their trading partners,
the implications of this development extend to
many parts of the world, including Australia.