China’s plywood trade climbed to more than 12.99 million cubic metres last year, a new record, despite a near-total collapse in plywood imports into the United States. That is according to new data published by China Customs, which reveals that despite softer prices and a new trade war in Europe, trade in predominantly hardwood plywood rose by more than 7% over the past 12 months, driven largely by a new push into the Middle East and Asian markets.
It comes as hardwood plywood continues to dominate China’s export mix, accounting for more than 78% of its total shipments (or 10.1 million cubic metres), a figure that dwarfs trade in softwood plywood (15.4% or 2 million cubic metres) and tropical plywood (827,000 cubic metres or 6.47%).
As it stands, plywood entering the Australian market fetches a higher average price per cubic metre than China’s other major buyers ($920 per cubic metre in local currency), with more than 600,000 cubic metres of plywood entering local ports, up by more than 22% over the last 12 months. In effect, this makes Australia China’s fifth-largest export market, behind only the Philippines (with 983,000 cubic metres), the United Arab Emirates (934,000 cubic metres), Saudi Arabia (750,000 cubic metres), and Nigeria (644,000 cubic metres).
By volume, China’s 2025 peak surpasses its COVID peak of 12.14 million cubic metres in 2021, and comes despite US trade freefalling from 1.83 million cubic metres in 2015 to just 150,000 cubic metres last year, after years of anti-dumping duties and trade policies took their toll on what was China’s largest trade market.
- To learn why plywood producers can no longer rely on the construction market to survive and must instead diversify into the “niche” markets, click here for Wood Central’s special feature from 2024.
