German timber exports to China hit another record low of just 212,000 m³
From January to August this year, Germany's timber exports to China fell 25.7 per cent year-on-year to a total of 3.349 million m³; the value fell 41.8 per cent year-on-year to a total of $3.92 billion. The volume of logs fell by 33% year-on-year, totalling 2.74 million m³, while the volume of sawn timber increased by 53.8% year-on-year, totalling 600,000 m³.
From the import data in the past five years, 2020-2021 period, Germany's timber exports to China opened a "surge" state, and even in 2021, the proportion of log exports once reached 95%, until 2022, the surge trend only gradually disappeared.
In August this year, Germany's timber exports to China are still hitting new lows, only 212,000 m³. At present, the German domestic logging industry has not yet recovered to the beginning of the year level, and it is expected that in the fourth quarter of 2023, Germany also maintains a low volume of exports to the Chinese market.
In terms of price, from January to August this year, the average price of German timber imports was around $1,248/m³, the highest level in the same period of the last five years. Among them, the average price of beech imports in August in about 2212 yuan / m ³, up 16%, according to the price trend in previous years predicted that in the fourth quarter of the German beech there are about 150-300 yuan of rising space.
In addition, after the Russia-Ukraine dispute, Germany replaced Russia as one of the main timber suppliers to the EU. This also means that even after the resumption of logging in the German timber industry in 2024, the volume of its timber exports to China will not appear again "surge", and the overall price changes will not be too big.
