China Wood Products Markets Study

RISI's study, China's Rapidly Expanding Wood Products Markets: Are they Sustainable? will help you understand the effects China could create in the global forest products markets by providing background information and detailed end-use forecasts on the Chinese wood products markets. Whether you are a producer, end user or financial analyst, this comprehensive report will serve as a key part of your international strategic planning.

In a world where North American and European producers have enjoyed generally healthy growth in lumber and panel demand, China has been notable for outstripping growth in the rest of the world by a factor of ten or more. If anything, this growth has accelerated over the past few years as construction activity has boomed and China has become a primary producer, consumer and exporter of furniture.

The devastating floods in China in 1998 forced Chinese manufacturers to turn outward and increase their purchases of a whole range of wood products and most importantly of logs. At the same time, China quickly started to exploit its position as a low-cost manufacturer to produce both primary and secondary wood products for export.

Figure 17. Total Consumption of Wood Products Has Grown Rapidly Over the Past Decade

These tectonic shifts in the manufacture and trade of wood products have not run their course. Massive investment in processing capacity in China, rapid growth in domestic demand, and continued huge opportunities are likely to continue to feed growing global markets for lumber, panel,furniture, and other wood products for much of the next decade.

Utilizing RISI's unique modeling structure, we detail end-use demand forecasts for lumber, plywood, blockboard, MDF/HDF, particleboard and OSB; as well as projections of imports and exports, capacity, costs and prices. Together these models and data underpin our analysis of the strengths and weaknesses of China's wood products industry and provide insights into the direction the industry will most likely take over the next 15 years.

Together with the companion volume, China's Growing Wood Fiber Deficit: Implications for the International Forest Products Industry, this study will provide a comprehensive integrated overview and analysis of the prospects for China's rapidly developing wood products industry, and explain how future massive consumption and production growth will be maintained despite constraints on China's own timber supply. No other report currently provides such a synthesis of product and fiber markets.

Features include:

• A review of China's forest products industry's responses to massive and rapid economic growth
• A forecast and analysis of China's wood products demand Indicators
• Forecast trends for China wood products costs and prices
• An evaluation of risks in China's wood products markets