NZ becomes world’s largest softwood log supplier
2 July 2014New Zealand is now the world’s largest supplier of softwood logs, providing more than 20% of global trade on the back of huge exports to China.
Last year New Zealand exported 57% of its timber harvest and the value of the trade has trebled in five years, according to the Wood Resource Quarterly.
Russia and the US are now ranked second and third as global log suppliers, each shipping about 15%.
Import figures from Chinese Customs indicate shipments from New Zealand jumped 32% last year, reaching 11.24 million m3 and the country has now overtaken Russia as China's largest log supplier, according to newsletter Random Lengths. China received 34% of its log imports from New Zealand last year, up from 32% the year before.
New Zealand's export gains stem from a 9% increase in log harvests to 29.9 million m3, a fifth consecutive annual increase. Exports reached 15.6 million m3, up 21% on record levels a year before. The second biggest export customer was South Korea, followed by India and Japan.
New Zealand's domestic sawmills have not enjoyed the same growth. In 2008, the total value of exported lumber was equal to that of logs at about US$500m. Since then lumber export revenue has risen by 30% but log exports jumped to nearly US$2bn in 2013.
