China has reduced importation of logs

The slowing economy in China has reduced the importation of logs from New Zealand, Russia and the US by about 15 percent during the first six months of 2012. Prices for imported and domestic softwood logs in China have fallen this year by 14 percent and 10 percent, respectively, as reported in the Wood Resource Quarterly. China’s phenomenal Gdp growth of between 9 and 14 percent annually over the past decade slowed down last year and is forecasted by International Monetary Fund to be “only” 8.25 percent in 2012. Reduced investments in public projects and a cooling residential property market have resulted in a decline in the importation of sawlogs during the first six months of 2012.