Bejing, China, June 18--China's imports of US hardwood have been experiencing rapid growth thanks to the country's protection of forest reserves and fast-expanding furniture and interior decoration market, according to Asia Intelligence Wire.
The import value of US hardwood products to China reached a record high of US$323 million last year, up 3.4 percent year on year. In the first quarter of this year, the export value hit US$138 million, an increase of 36.7 percent year on year, according to statistics from the American Hardwood Export Council (AHEC).
Alder tops the list of imported species, with an import value of US32 million last year, followed by yellow poplar, at US$29 million. Hardwood is used in furniture making and interior decoration.
"China's booming economy and new housing privatization initiatives have created a new generation of increasingly affluent consumers who are eager to outfit their homes and work places with quality interior furnishings made with US hardwoods," said Michael Snow, executive director of AHEC.
Snow said during the council's annual meeting held last week in the city of Qingdao, in East China's Shandong Province, China is now one of the major markets for US hardwoods because of its "significant growth rate."
He said the marketshare of US hardwood in China is still quite low. It occupies less than 10 per cent of the total import hardwood volume due to the high price. But he is optimistic: "Even though the percentage is low, the market potential is still huge to us, since China has a large population." He said domestic furniture manufacturers were tending to make high value-added products in order to make more profit, and US hardwood was an essential material for them.
"Compared with hardwood products from other countries, such as Russia and Malaysia, which are major hardwood exporters to China, US products' higher quality and variety of species, grants space for Chinese furniture manufacturers to develop high-end products," Snow said. "This makes them competitive not only in the domestic market but also in the global market."
Guan Xin, China regional marketing and sales manager of Rossi American Hardwoods Co, one of the top US hardwood exporting companies, said almost all its customers in China are furniture exporting companies. "They import material from us, make it into high-class furniture and then sell it back to North America and Europe," Guan said. He said the company's export volume to China is at the same level as that of last year, although the Chinese furniture manufacturers are struggling against the US anti-dumping cases.
"After the result is issued, the (export) situation will be much better," Guan predicted. Another factor that has stimulated hardwood imports is the Government's protection of the country's wood resources. China has worked hard to protect natural forests since 1998, which means a shortage in the domestic timber market of about 60 million cubic meters every year. China will remain largely dependent on imported wood in the next 30 to 50 years.
"Increasing US exports will also help ease China's shortage in wood, as the country spares no effort to protect its forests," Snow said. It is necessary for China, a country short on forests, to import a large amount of timber and wood products during the next 10 years or even longer, he said.
