China’s hunger for wood was less acute in 2012 than in the previous year. In
particular, importation of softwood logs fell substantially from the record
levels of 2011. Importation of lumber was also lower in 2012, but the decline
was much less than that of logs. The biggest changes in log and lumber imports
between 2011 and 2012 were the sharp decline of Russian log volumes crossing
the Chinese border and the reduced lumber shipments from the US to Chinese
ports, as reported in the Wood Resource Quarterly. During the first four months
of 2013, import volumes of both logs and lumber picked up and were 12 percent
and 19 percent higher, respectively, than in the same period in 2012.
