Chinese Timber Price Hike Expected
10/26/99
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Title: Chinese Timber Price Hike Expected
Source: Xinhua
Status: Copyright 1999, contact source for permission to reprint
Date: October 26, 1999
BEIJING, October 26 (Xinhua)-- Timber prices in China will rise five
to ten percent over the next eight months, with shortage of timber
and the difficulty to import timber, China Daily reported today.
The newspaper quoted Dong Xinmin, deputy director of the State
Forestry Bureau's forest products co-ordination center as saying that
"the timber prices in provinces and autonomous regions in South
China, such as Guangdong, Fujian and Guangxi, have already begun to
pick up."
He based his price-hike forecast on higher personal incomes and an
expectation that the government will invest more in wood-buying for
infrastructure projects.
Also, as environmental consciousness grows around the world and
countries pay more attention to protecting natural forests, timber
imports are likely to become more difficult, which is another factor
contributing to the price hike, he said.
In the first five months of this year, five million cubic meters of
timber were imported, compared to six million cubic meters for last
year.
China needs about 70 million cubic meters of wood annually, while the
annual domestic supply is about 60 million cubic meters. The country
only needs to import about ten million cubic meters of timber to
satisfy demand and to adjust the product mix.
Dong proposed that the government spend more on planting forests to
produce more high-grade timber.