|
 |
Contents |
|
|
| China target of timber talks |
|
2004/12/6
Forestry businesses and officials are meeting in Rotorua to brainstorm ways to better promote Kiwi wood products in China, amid falling exports.
Though China's construction and home-improvement markets have been booming, New Zealand wood exports into the world's fastest-growing economy have fallen 11 per cent so far this year.
The drop is in part due to high shipping costs and a strong Kiwi dollar.
But some say the reason lies partly with Kiwi companies themselves, pointing out that countries such as Canada, the United States and Finland have been quicker to take advantage of the opportunities China has to offer.
"We're well behind the starting blocks," says Don Johnson, marketing manager at Pan Pac Forest Products.
"It's a combination of lack of vision, and lack of fortitude to get into the Chinese market."
The conference opens tonight. Tomorrow, workshops will be held on sectors of China's wood-products market that New Zealand companies have not tapped into.
Forestry exports for the year ended March 31, 2004, were valued at $3.1 billion.
China's contribution was $325.1 million, according to provisional figures from the Agriculture and Forestry Ministry.
The wood exports are mainly logs, pulp and lumber.
"One challenge, and an area of opportunity for companies here, is to try to move into higher-margin activities," says Grant Fuller, New Zealand Trade and Enterprise's former trade commissioner in Shanghai.
China's middle class of more than 100 million people is driving a housing boom, so products such as wall panelling and timber mouldings are in demand. These are products in which New Zealand wood companies can excel, Mr Johnson says.
"Many products for China could be manufactured in New Zealand, because of lower labour input and higher technology components in the manufacturing process."
Yet there had been no New Zealand moves to target this end of the market.
Twenty per cent of Pan Pac's sales are of semi-processed timber to Markor Furniture International in China. The Napier company is looking for other buyers in China and hopes to start marketing finished goods there as early as next year.
Trade and Enterprise hopes the conference will be a push for New Zealand companies still testing the Chinese waters. "It's about our companies thinking in terms of strategic relationships and long-term commitments, rather than just short-term trading," Mr Fuller says.
Matthew Brady, former general manager of the American Forest and Paper Association's Beijing office, says New Zealand companies have not fared too badly in China.
In the past few years, they had been "very active" there in terms of codes and standards development.
Mr Brady, who will be the keynote speaker at the conference, also says that US wood exports to China, like New Zealand's, are commodity-driven. "I'd say over 80 per cent of US exports are raw materials or components being used in Chinese manufacturing."
New Zealand and China signed a trade and economic co-operation framework this year.
The two countries expect to start talks on free trade early next year, a move the Government says will open up access to the Chinese market.
The conference is organised by the Forest Industries Council and Trade and Enterprise.
|
| Source: |
|
|
