Chinese manufacturers are abandoning plywood to chase higher-value laminated veneer lumber (LVL) markets — and are using enormous economies of scale, new species and dynamic and adaptive manufacturing to compete with, and in some cases can outpace, local suppliers.
That is according to Steve Walker, Principal of Terrafolia Advisory, who spoke exclusively to Wood Central after visiting a series of LVL manufacturing clusters in Linyi, Suqian and Guigang last week. And the production pivot, he says, is only part of the story. “What stands out most,” Walker said, “is the ability to produce high-quality structural products using young plantation logs.”
“This is driving new levels of efficiency and productivity that are reshaping the competitive landscape for timber products,” he said. “These clusters are changing how structural timber products are produced and supplied globally.”
Part of that competitive edge is feedstock flexibility.
According to Walker, the mills draw on a wide species mix — domestic pine (Pinus massoniana), planted eucalyptus, New Zealand radiata and European spruce — with end customers specifying wood blends, quality grades and certification requirements before a board is cut. As a result, manufacturers can produce LVL on demand, at scale, to any dimensions worldwide.
It comes after Wood Central revealed that Chinese LVL arriving at Australian ports has surged 63 per cent in the ten months to October 2025, with new ABS data recording more than 205,000 cubic metres traded in that period alone. For Walker, the use of younger fibre, purpose-built infrastructure, and on-spec production means China can land product at costs that locals can only dream of.
For global forest asset managers, Walker says this represents a real opportunity.
The implication, he says, is simple: rotation length, fibre specification and market strategy are now directly linked. “Investors who focus on productivity optimisation and value creation, and who align forest resources with the growing demand for engineered wood, will be well positioned for the next phase of the industry,” Walker said. “The future of forestry will belong to portfolios that understand how fibre, manufacturing and markets are changing together.”
It comes as Walker last month set out the detailed case for how Australia’s plantation estate could be better deployed to meet exactly this kind of demand. His paper, A National Pathway for High-Productivity Forestry and Renewable Carbon Supply, published by the Rozette Institute, argues that Australia could double its plantation output without planting a single additional tree — through smarter rotation management, fibre alignment and productivity optimisation across existing estates.
