Latest Wood Market News from China

‐2002.10.14／

Report from China

A World-class Furniture Exporter

The value of China's furniture industry in 1978 was just 1.3 billion yuan but by 2000 and after more than 20 years of development it had reached 120 billion yuan. By 2001 the output value had risen to 140 billion representing an average annual growth rate of 15 per cent since 1978.

During the same period the number of furniture enterprises grew to some 50 000. According to statistics from China's Customs, furniture exports ( including non-timber furniture ) totaled US$ 2.707 billion in 1999, US$ 3.565 billion in 2000 and reached US$ 3.958 billion in 2001. For the first half of 2002 exports amounted to US$2.622 billion. Analysts are confident that furniture exports will continue to grow throughout the second half of 2002 and probably at an advanced rate and total exports will likely exceed US$5 billion.

The development goals of the furniture industry, as set out by China's Furniture Association, are as follows:

• China's furniture exports will account for 20% of the world's trade;
  
  
• Creating some world class furniture brands;
  
  
• Establishing some world-class large size furniture enterprises;
  
  
• Striving to become world number one in furniture production and exports.

China's National Furniture Association considers that the value of China's furniture production can reach about 170 billion yuan by 2005 and 300 billion yuan or so by 2015 at average annual growth rate of 12%?15%.Also the Association forecasts a stable growth in exports which may reach US$ 6 billion by 2005 and exceed US$ 10 billion by 2015.

To achieve these ambitious targets analysts consider that China's furniture industry should develop in the following ways:

First, there is a need to optimize the structure of export products and increase the production of value-added furniture. This will involve increasing the proportion of panel, metal and high-grade furniture and changing from a focus on exporting solid, low-grade furniture.
Then the sector must continue to achieve a balance in regional production. Currently China's furniture exports are mainly concentrated on Dongguan, Shenzhen, Beijing, Heilongjiang and Liaoning. Rapid developments have been seen in Shenzhen and Dongguan cities in recent years because they are located in Southern China (the Pearl River Delta) and are closely connected to Hongkong. Shenzhen for example, had only 46 furniture enterprises in 1985 and the value of furniture output accounted for only 1.1% of the national total. Now the regions furniture exports account for 25% of the national total after nearly 20 years development. The later comer, Dongguan even surpass this performance. Dongguan has jumped from being the leader in the Pearl River Delta to become the largest furniture production and export base in the Asia-Pacific region. Its furniture export value (US$ 1.3 billion ) contributes more than 30% of national exports. Further, it has established an international marketing network of its own and has built around business ties with Taiwan P.o.C. and Hong Kong.

The National Furniture Association aims to further benefit from the international market and to achieve this the sector will aim to win greater market share by competitive pricing. To do this the Association has identified that Chinese manufacturers will need to produce products of excellent quality and at reasonable prices. Additionally they will need to expand market share in the developing countries as well make greater efforts to improve the quality of products and market share in the medium and high class furniture sectors in the developed countries, especially the US.

Zhangjiagang Port Timber Handling Grows

Timber imports through Zhangjiagang Port continued to grow in the first half of 2002. According to Customs, 603 batches of timber had been declared and inspected with a total volume of 1.24 million cubic metres and a value of US$ 155 million. 402 batches were logs (1.1715 million cubic metres Ranked by volume the main sources of imported timber were Gabon, Papua New Guinea, Malaysia, New Zealand and Indonesia.

The volume of container shipments have increased sharply and are up over 400% year-on-year and sawnwood imports were up by a factor of 10 at 46,685 cubic metres nearly 10 times that of the same period last year. It was noticed that of the imported timber a greater number of species were imported but there were more smaller batches. Most imports were of tropical hardwood species with fewer types of softwood (mainly from New Zealand and Russia).

For information on China's forestry try:
http://www.forestry.ac.cn/

Hangzhou	yuan per Cu.m
Radiate pine log
6m 26cm+ dia	800
Douglas fir log	1350
Luan Logs	1650-1800
Kapur/Keruing Logs	1650-1850
Beech Logs 6m 30cm+	1500
Beech Logs
For Sliced Veneer	2800
White Oak Sawn 2ins	-
Canadian lumber 4m	1400
Beech Sawn	2500-5000
Teak sawn 4 m+	8500
SE Asian Sawn 4m+	2700

Wholesale Prices, Indonesian and Malaysian
plywood 3mm 1220x2440