In 2023, European timber will account for nearly 4% of China's total imports.
According to the customs data compiled by Mutouyun, the country's imports of European timber will reach 25.96 million cubic meters in 2023, a decrease of 14 compared with 202209%；The import value reached 35.7 billion yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 1879%。
Imports of logs
In 2023, the amount of logs in Europe and China will decrease by 37% year-on-year29% to 10.2 billion yuan, with a cumulative import volume of 8.76 million cubic meters, a decrease of 3388%, accounting for about 23% of China's log imports.
There are 9 countries in which European countries' logs exports to China have increased. Among them, due to Norway's low log export base to China in 2022 (only 4000+ cubic meters), it will become the country with the most obvious growth in European logs exports to China in 2023 (4640,000 cubic meters, a year-on-year increase of 104519%）。
The rest have Poland (+101.).48% to 111360,000 cubic meters), the Netherlands (+92..)48% to 7680,000 cubic meters), Sweden (+65.97% to 7490,000 cubic meters) as well as Italy (+108.).2% to 1190,000 cubic meters) and other European countries' logs exports to China increased by more than 50%.
Germany exports the highest number of logs to our country, reaching 3.58 million cubic meters, accounting for 40 percent of China's imports of European logs9%。Compared with 2022, Germany's log exports to our country have decreased by 3983 per cent, * also down 4091%。This was mainly due to a decline of 2.41 million in exports of fir and spruce logs (down 45% year-on-year), which led to a decline in German log exports.
Estonia (-47.).81% to 3190,000 cubic meters), Bosnia and Herzegovina (-74.).07% to 2680,000 cubic meters), France (-41.).69% to 72780,000 cubic meters), Czech Republic (-6767% to 30550,000 cubic meters), Latvia (-64.).13% to 30280,000 cubic meters) Serbia (-61..)98% to 1210,000 cubic meters), Slovakia (-64.).02% to 15640,000 cubic meters) and Hungary (-53.).31% to 3160,000 cubic meters) and other European countries have declined to varying degrees of logs exports to China.
Imports of sawn timber
In 2023, China's sawn timber will come from more than 70 countries or regions around the world. Among them, European sawn timber accounted for nearly sixty percent of China's imported sawn timber, reaching 17.19 million cubic meters, an increase of 1 compared with 202237%。* Amount decreased by 769% to $25.5 billion.
Popular European sawn timber species imported domesticallyash, beech and poplarAll of them have reduced imports to varying degrees. Imports of ash sawn timber decreased by 20 percent compared to 202254% to 10090,000 cubic meters; Imports of beech sawn timber decreased by 1794% to 48960,000 cubic meters; Imports of poplar sawn timber decreased by 1265% to 8040,000 cubic meters.
While other softwood sawn timber, such as Korean pine and Pinus sylvestris, it decreased slightly by about 70,000 cubic meters (-128% to 597340,000 cubic meters); Fir and spruce sawn timber increased by 836% to 7.8 million cubic meters; Imports of other softwood timber (sawn, slitted, planed or rotary cut, 6 mm thick) fell by 683% to 147330,000 cubic meters.
Russia maintained the first place in the export of sawn timber to China, reaching 13.04 million cubic meters, basically maintaining the level of sawn timber exports to China in 2022.
With the willingness of Belarusian businessmen to make concessions in terms of delivery and payment, China's market share in Belarusian sawn timber has increased from 37% to 52%, replacing EU countries as the main consumer market for Belarusian sawn timber. In 2023, China's sawn timber imported from Belarus will be close to 900,000 cubic meters, an increase of 4367%；* Amount increased by 2204% to 11400 million yuan, becoming the second largest European country in the export of sawn timber to China.
Ukraine is still one of the top 10 European countries in terms of sawn timber exports. However, due to the ongoing dispute between Russia and Ukraine, Ukraine's sawn timber exports to China will drop by nearly seventy percent year-on-year in 2023, only 5660,000 cubic meters (18. in 2022.)460,000), * also fell by 69 year-on-year86%。
Summary
On the whole, the decrease in European timber to China in 2023 is mainly due to the decrease in the export of logs. Previously, at the end of 2022, the European Timber Association proposed to increase the revenue of European timber processing plants, reduce log exports, and increase the added value of timber exports. Therefore, in addition to the abundant domestic inventory and the slowdown in demand growth, the decrease in China's imports of European logs is also due to this reason.