The biggest growth in overseas lumber trade has been from Canada to China and from the Nordic countries to Japan. Softwood accounted for two-thirds of the US$50bn value of the global logs and lumber trade in 2013.
The value of lumber traded was twice that of logs. The largest overseas trade flows were between Canada and Asia, then shipments from Sweden to the UK.
Asian demand for softwood lumber exploded in 2013, with Japan, China and South Korea together importing more than twice the volumes compared to five years ago.
