In 2018, China’s log wood imports increased by 8% compared to the previous year, rising to an overall of 60 million m³, of which 41.1 million sm³ (+9%) were softwood and 18.6 million sm³ (+8%) hardwood logs. 43% of softwood log shipments arrived from New Zealand and 19% from Russia, followed by the US (12%), Australia (10%), Canada (6%) and Uruguay (5%).
China’s sawn timber imports, however, declined last year. Compared to 2017, they fell by 2% to 36.7 million m³ (24.9 million m³ softwood, 11.9 million m³ hardwood sawn timber). According to the internet platform woodmarkets.com (FEA), the majority of the softwood sawn timber was bought from Russia (63%). The rest was imported, among others, from Canada (17%), Finland (5%), Sweden (3%) and Chile (3%).
