Log and lumber imports into China rose to an all-time high in 2013, says the Japan Lumber Reports Friday, due to recovering demand and tight inventories after the government restricted credit funding in mid-2011.
Import of logs into China last year was 45.2 million cubic metres, a 19.2 per cent increase over 2012. Lumber imports were 24.0 million cubic metres, a jump of 16.4 per cent from the previous year.
Total log volumes exceeded the last peak year, 2011, by 3.0 million cubic metres, and lumber by 2.5 million cubic metres.
China Wood Imports 2013
In 2013, New Zealand became the top log supplier to China with 11.5 million cubic metres, a 3.0 million cubic metre increase over 2012 says the Japan Lumber Reports. Second by volume was Russia with 10.3 million cubic metres.
However, the US imported 5.6 million cubic metres of logs, a whopping 54 per cent increase from 2012.
“Looks like Russian days are over as far as log import is concerned,” declared the Reports. The Russian export duty and low prices for New Zealand logs were cited as reasons for the expected continued drop in Russian log imports to China. [And to Japan for that matter – Ed]
Russian, Canadian, and US lumber combined accounted for 68 per cent of China’s lumber imports last year.
Russian lumber imports rose by 13.1 per cent, to 7.0 million cubic metres, while that from Canada increased by 6.5 per cent to 6.9 million cubic metres. US lumber imported into China was 2.6 million cubic metres.