China has always been one of the biggest wood product importers in the world. In the first half of 2016, over 50% of China\u2019s wood products are imported and the imports of wood, wood-based panels and wooden furniture have all jumped noticeably compare with the same period of 2015. It has been predicted that China\u2019s imports of wood products will continue to soar.<\/p>\n
Huge demand for Wooden Buildings in China <\/strong><\/p>\n In order to encourage the growth of ecotourism, the Chinese government has developed the\u00a0Chinese 13th economic plan<\/strong>(2016-2020) and released a series of documents to promote the construction of campsites with wooden structures and mobile wooden houses. Thus, the number of newly built campsites is expected to be at least 1,000 by 2020.<\/p>\n Moreover, the five-year plan has also reveals China\u2019s aspiration to build 500 tourist towns<\/strong> featured with wooden cabins, which will generate tens of millions of profits in RMB.<\/p>\n It has been reported that by 2030, the number of the aged in China will reach 342 million, accounting for 23% of the population and consequently senior housing will be in sore need. As early as 2014, the Chinese government has realized the gravity of aging population and released document to encourage the development of senior real estate.<\/p>\n Wooden houses<\/strong> in the suburbs, which are good for the health of the elderly, will be the next project for real estate developers.<\/p>\n Also, it is reported that, annually, 40% of the world\u2019s cement and steels are consumed by China as its main construction materials. The massive use and production of cement and steels has generated billion tons of carbon emission.<\/p>\n In order to keep its promise of cutting down 65% of carbon emission by 2030<\/strong>, China now vigorously encourages the construction of green buildings. Currently around 2 billion m2 of new buildings are constructed annually in China, out of which only 20% are considered \u2018green building\u2019.<\/p>\n According to the national plan<\/strong>, the proportion of \u2018green buildings\u2019 should increase to 50% by 2020, which means that the market value for wood frame buildings will be in the tens of billions of US dollars by that time.<\/p>\n It is foreseeable that in the near future, under the strong supports of the government, wooden buildings will be spring up everywhere in China, triggering a surge in demand for wood products. What\u2019s more, since China has placed a logging ban on natural forests, it will be necessary for China to import wood products.<\/p>\n China\u2019s need for wood imports<\/strong><\/p>\n The lack of forest resources,\u00a0wood quality<\/strong>, and some structural problems, are issues that on the short term can't be fundamentally solved by the Chinese government. Faced with an insufficient forestry development, China's huge\u00a0<\/strong>wood demand<\/strong>, driven by the country's\u00a0economic and social evolution, cannot be satisfied by domestic resources and will have to rely more and more on imports.<\/p>\n At the moment, China has 198 million hectares of\u00a0<\/strong>natural forests<\/strong>, of which 127 million hectares have been put under the administration of reservations since the launch of the\u00a0<\/strong>forest protection program<\/strong>\u00a0in 1998.<\/p>\n Chinese natural forest policies will determine an even wider gap between\u00a0<\/strong>wood demand<\/strong>\u00a0and the ability to satisfy this demand with own domestic resources. Therefore, in the following years, China's reliance on\u00a0<\/strong>foreign imports of timber<\/strong>\u00a0will further be enhanced.<\/p>\n It is likely that over the next five years,\u00a0<\/strong>China's softwood\/hardwood timber imports<\/strong>\u00a0proportion to float to a ratio of 7\/3. Also, the current Chinese timber import channels are expected change according to some factors: like the fight against illegal logging, the RMB's exchange rate and others. Thus, China's timber import origin countries will gradually develop towards a diversification.<\/p>\n With the current developments, we may expect that during the\u00a0Chinese 13th economic plan<\/strong>, the main sources for logs imports will be formed by Russia, Ukraine, as the representatives of Europe; New Zealand and Australia ; the U.S. and Canada. The largest lumber imports from Europe will come from Russia and Finland; the U.S. and Canada; and Thailand, Indonesia and\u00a0Philippines from Southeast Asia.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" China has always been one of the biggest wood product importers in the world. In the first half of 2016, over 50% of China\u2019s wood products are imported and the imports of wood, wood-based panels and wooden furniture have all … Continue reading