Along with the diversification of China's timber import market and
the rising domestic demand for timber, the Chinese timber import
market is very likely to bid farewell to being overstocked and
become active again.
A
timber promotion activity jointly held by a dozen Brazilian timber
producers recently in Shanghai attracted hundreds of timber
enterprises in east China.
Not only China's timber importers are interested in the remote
tropical forests in South America, but also the domestic market is
calling for more timber reserves as well.
Since launching a campaign to protect forests in 1998, China has
reported a short supply of timber. As a result, many enterprises
blindly imported large quantities of timber from Europe and Russia.
However, a lack of market awareness on the part of the importers
led to a slackening of the domestic market.
It
will be hard for a certain kind of timber to dominate the entire
market in the future, an expert in timber said, adding that
diversified demand for different timber has provided Brazilian
timber producers with greater opportunities.
China produced 46.73 million cubic meters of commercial timber last
year, about 14 percent less than the previous year.
However, experts pointed out that China is mainly short of timber
required for indoor decoration.
(Xinhua 04/26/2001)