Industry experts fear the rapid growth of China’s wood flooring industry may lead to a glut of products on the market.
The country is now the world’s largest manufacturer and consumer of wood flooring, making 50% of the world’s annual production. More than 1,000 manufacturers sold a total of 220 million m2 last year, up 20% on the previous 12 months.
The China Timber Circulation Association (CTCA) has warned that production capacity already slightly exceeds market demand and sales are expected to increase by 20-30% this year.
The CTCA is also concerned that the growth is putting pressure on China’s limited timber resources, with some raw wood already being imported from South-east Asia and South America.
It is promoting the use of engineered wood flooring as a more environmentally-friendly alternative to solid timber products. A recent CTCA meeting in Shanghai to discuss how to further explore the domestic market attracted 15 of the largest engineered hardwood flooring manufacturers.
