China’s Forest Product Exports
An Overview of Trends by Segment and Destinations
By Xiufang Sun, Nian Cheng, Kerstin Canby - Forest Trends, Forest Trends, Chinese Center for Agricultural Policy, Center for International Forestry Research, DFID View PublicationIn only 7 years, China’s timber product exports have tripled in volume and increased fourfold in value. The total volume of all forest product exports – including both timber and pulp and paper products – is now one-third of China’s total forest product import volume. The total volume of only primary timber products (excluding pulp and paper) exports is now more than two-thirds of China’s timber product imports by RWE volume. It is clear that the global demand for processed forest products is a key driver of China’s forest products industry and trade. This paper provides an overview of these forest product exports trends. It considers both product segment and major destination. Trends are identified primarily through use of official Chinese Customs data in which Hong Kong and Taiwan are treated as destinations. The paper first describes the overall export trends and then describes trends by major product category. It next identifies major destination countries/regions.