In the years since the suspension of Chinese and Australian logs, Australia has begun to focus on diversifying its timber product market as a way to avoid dependence on a single country. In order to keep the timber export industry growing, Australia established more mature relationships with countries such as India during the ban.
Recently, Nathan Paine, CEO of the Forest Products Association of South Australia, spoke about the development of the timber industry in an interview with the Voice of the Southeast. "China's reopening has provided greater market diversity for the local timber industry, but at the same time we will continue to develop relationships with importers from India and other countries. ”
It is understood that at present, Australia has also invested 2 million US dollars in the domestic manufacturing and infrastructure master plan of forest products, "which will put the industry on a positive basis to achieve 100% fiber utilization." "At the same time, Australia's timber industry will usher in new changes, with less than 10 days to go before the state of Victoria and other regions ban the cutting of native forests, and it is expected that in 2024, the disadvantages of uneven distribution of local timber resources will gradually become apparent.
In the first half of the year, Australia's timber exports to China increased by 39% year-on-year to a total of 6,100m. Since the second half of the year, the amount of timber exported by Australia to China has increased more significantly, reaching 6,149m in August alone, and basically remaining at about 4,000m in the following months.
It is worth noting that since China lifted its ban on Australian logs in May this year, 211m of Australian log imports (85m in October) finally appeared in the statistics of the General Administration of Customs of China in JanuaryA total of 126m in November).
Although it seems that Australia's log exports to China are beginning to show signs of recovery, based on the analysis of Australia's current forestry industry, ** will continue to maintain a small amount of timber between China and Australia in 2024.