According to the latest data released by the General Administration of Customs, in the first quarter of 2024, China's total wood imports exceeded US$3 billion, a year-on-year decrease of 3.05%, and a year-on-year increase of 4.2% compared with the fourth quarter of 2023; the total import volume reached 15.56 million cubic meters, a year-on-year decrease 1.47%, lower than market expectations.
In January, import volume fell by 3.78% to 5.07 million cubic meters, and trade volume fell by 5.12% to US$999 million;
In February, import volume fell by 6.33% to 4.46 million cubic meters, and trade volume fell by 8.06% to US$911 million;
In March, import volume increased by 4.7% to 6.01 million cubic meters, and trade volume decreased by 2.83% to US$1.254 billion.
Logs accounted for 56.88%, and arrivals increased significantly in March.
In the first quarter, the total volume of log imports reached 8.85 million cubic meters, accounting for 56.88% of timber imports in the first quarter, a 4.52% decrease compared with imports in the same period in 2023; the trade volume reached 1.5 billion yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 6.44%. The average import unit price is US$170/cubic (*the average import unit price does not involve freight and other costs, the specific price is subject to the market).
The volume of logs arrived increased significantly in March, an increase of 7.9% compared to the same period in 2023, and a significant increase of 36.69% compared to February 2024.
Log species with increasing imports include Eucalyptus, Douglas Fir, Radiata Pine, Birch with a minimum cross-section size of less than 15 cm, as well as Oak and Mersawa logs. Compared with large-diameter logs, domestic imports of small-diameter logs have increased astonishingly in recent years. Perhaps the log-producing countries harvested logs early due to multiple effects such as weather, wildfires, and insect pests, which led to an increase in export volume.
Saw timber imports maintained growth trend in the first quarter.
In the first three months of 2024, national sawn timber imports increased by 2.87% year-on-year to 6.7 million cubic meters, and trade volume increased by 0.24% to US$1.662 billion; the average import unit price was US$247/cubic meter (*the average import unit price does not involve other costs such as freight Fees, the specific price is subject to the market).
However, among the imports from January to March, only the import growth rate in January exceeded 10%; while in February, there was a slight decrease of 3.69%, and in March, imports were the same as the same period last year. This means that although sawn timber imports showed a growth trend in the first quarter, the growth trend was not obvious. It is expected that there will be a period of strength in sawn timber imports in the second quarter.
In terms of imported wood types, the import of furniture materials including White Ash, Merbau, SPF, Sapele and Douglas Fir increased, especially Sapele sawn timber, which increased by more than 120% to 22,900 cubic meters. But sawn timber imports of Cherry from North America and Beech, Oak from Europe fell.
Overall, as import volume showed positive growth in March and the decline from January to February was lower than market expectations, national wood imports finally did not fall too much in the first quarter of 2024, but it can still be seen that the market recovery is proceeding slowly. .