China Wood Flooring Sales Fall for First Time

Moscow, Russia, April 16, 2009--China’s export of wooden flooring suffered a severe setback in the fourth quarter last year, according to Lesprom Network.

Due to lack of activity in the real estate sector, domestic timber markets were also slack. The total sales volume of wooden flooring in the country dropped for the first time in 2008 after successive growth over a 12 year period.

According to data from the Flooring Specialty Committee of China’s National Forest Products Industry Association, the gross sales volume of wooden flooring in the country was about 344 million square meters in 2008, down 4.8% from last year.

Of the total, laminated flooring fell 10% to 198 million square meters; solid wood flooring dropped 4.5% to 42 million square meters; wooden composite flooring was down 4% to 78 million square meters; bamboo flooring fell 20% to 24 million square meters; and other types of flooring were down 10% to 1.8 million square meters.