WRQ: Chinese Log Imports from New Zealand and Europe Surged

SEATTLE (Scrap Monster):  The Wood Resource Quarterly (WRQ) reported surge in log imports by China from New Zealand and Europe.

New Zealand supplied 39% of the total log imports by China during Q3 2019. It must be noted that New Zealand’s market share has grown significantly from 32% in 2015. Also, a number of European countries have expanded their presence in Chinese market over the past year, mainly on account of log oversupply in those countries. The total supply of softwood logs by European countries totalled over 2 million cubic metres in Q3 last year. The market share of European countries has surged higher from 3% to 20% over the past one year, led by Germany, Czech, Poland and France.

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On the other hand, Russia and North America reported huge decline in market share over the past five years. The Russian market share dropped from 28% to 12%, whereas the North American countries reported loss of market share from 21% in 2015 to as low as 13% in 2019. The Russian log supplies to China hit the lowest levels in nearly 20 years in 3Q 2019. At the same time, log shipments from Uruguay declined substantially over the past year. It must be noted that Uruguay was the fifth largest log supplier to China in 2018.