More than 173,000 cubic metres of logs were traded from the United States to China in December, making China the United States second-most important export market for logs and the United States China’s third-most important market. That is according to new data provided by China Customs, revealing that trade in US-originating sawlog jumped more than 40% from December 2023.
It comes after China left off hardwood and softwood logs in its ongoing tit-for-tat trade war with President Trump, revealing that from today, 10 February 2025, China will impose a 15% border tax on imports of US coal and liquefied natural gas products – along with a 10% tariff on American crude oil, agricultural machinery and large-engine cars, which comes in direct response to Trump’s decision to impose a 10% tariff on a wide range of Chinese imports – including timber furniture.
In November, Wood Central revealed that China accounted for just under 40% of all American hardwoods and softwoods (38%) traded from US shores for the year to September (about 1.92 million cubic metres), ahead of Canada (31%), Japan (17%), India (5%) and Vietnam (4.4%).
“Softwood logs comprised 70% of total exports, totalling 2.78 million cubic metres,” said Russian-based Lesproom Analytics, with “hardwood logs followed with 29.4% of the total market, or about 1,165 thousand cubic metres,” and tropical logs making up just 0.3% of the volume.
As it stands, the US is the world’s largest producer of forest products, has the highest per capita consumption of industrial wood, and is the second-largest consumer market (behind China) for lumber, engineered wood products, paper, and wood energy. To date, more than US $10 billion worth of timber is traded between the United States and China annually, rocketing from US $7 billion a year over the past decade.
- To learn more about the impact of Trump’s tariff plans and its impact on the US $50 billion trade in timber products, click here for Wood Central’s special feature.
