China has become the leading global importer of many types of forest products, including wood pulp and logs.

China’s domestic consumption of forest products has grown this year with new construction and remodeling contributing to drive GDP up 7.9 percent in the second quarter alone.

The biggest increases in imports originated from Russia and New Zealand, according to Wood Resource Quarterly. Although Russia is still the largest supplier of logs, New Zealand has increased its market share from 10 percent in the second quarter 2008 to 23 percent in the same quarter of this year.

The average import value for softwood logs has been declining since late last year and was down 25 percent in the second quarter from its peak in the third quarter of last year. So far this year, Russian logs have cost substantially more than have logs from New Zealand and Australia.

Prices for Chinese fir sawlogs, a common species used by the sawmilling industry in southern China, were 18% lower in the 2Q/09 than at their all-time high last fall, according to the Wood Resource Quarterly. Prices for domestic logs, which in general have been higher than those of foreign logs, have followed a similar trend as imported wood.

The increased demand for softwood lumber has not only been met by higher production at the country’s sawmills, but also from an increase in the importation of lumber. During the first six months this year, China imported 28 percent more softwood lumber than during the same period last year. Much of the increased demand has been filled by lumber from Russia, Canada and New Zealand.

Chinese paper companies have been aggressive buyers of wood pulp in 2009, with import volumes being more than 40 percent higher the first half of this year as compared to the same period in 2008.

Pulp mills in Latin America have been the major beneficiaries of the recent surge in pulp imports to China. As reported in the Wood Resource Quarterly, Brazil has increased its exports of wood pulp to China by over 50 percent this year.