China\u2019s timber import market recorded a sharp decline in February 2026, with total import volume falling 28.7% year on year. Within that overall drop, however, logs and sawn timber moved in different directions. Log imports increased by 6.5%, while sawn timber imports declined by 5.8%. At the same time, Belarus posted a strong gain in shipments to China, while major suppliers including New Zealand and Russia saw declines of more than 30%. In contrast to the weak import performance, China\u2019s exports of timber and wood products rose strongly, led by a 91.5% jump in plywood exports.<\/p>\n
According to customs data, China imported 3.215 million cubic meters of timber in February 2026, down 28.7% from the same month a year earlier and 25% lower than in January. Import value during the month reached $690 million, representing a year-on-year decrease of 25.3%. Market conditions were affected by sluggish demand recovery after the holiday period, with performance notably weaker than in the same period of 2025.<\/p>\n
Logs rise while sawn timber declines<\/strong><\/p>\n Looking at the market by product segment, China\u2019s log imports reached 1.795 million cubic meters in February, up 6.5% year on year. Import value for logs increased by 3.6% to $290 million, while the average import price fell by 2.8%.<\/p>\n Sawn timber showed the opposite direction. China imported 1.42 million cubic meters of sawn timber in February, a 5.8% decline from a year earlier. Despite the lower volume, import value edged up 0.3% year on year to $400 million. The average import price for sawn timber continued the upward movement already seen in January, rising 6.5% from the same month last year.<\/p>\n Supplier structure shifts as Belarus stands out<\/strong><\/p>\n Among China\u2019s ten largest timber suppliers, most countries recorded declines in both volume and value during February. Only Canada, Belarus and the Philippines posted positive growth.<\/p>\n New Zealand, Russia and Thailand remained the top three suppliers, but each saw steep reductions in shipment volume. Imports from New Zealand fell 30.4%, Russia declined 30.7% and Thailand dropped 31.7%. New Zealand\u2019s volume fell from 1.307 million cubic meters to 910,000 cubic meters, while import value declined by 35%, suggesting temporary pressure on its exports to China.<\/p>\n Belarus emerged as the standout supplier for the month. China\u2019s imports from Belarus reached 108,000 cubic meters, up 40% year on year, while import value rose 38.5%.<\/p>\n Other suppliers experienced even sharper contractions. Imports from the Solomon Islands, the United States and Papua New Guinea all declined by more than 40%. Papua New Guinea was particularly weak, with log exports to China falling 70%, making it one of the main contributors to the overall decline in import performance.<\/p>\n Coniferous wood remains under pressure<\/strong><\/p>\n By species, coniferous wood imports fell 29% year on year to 2.09 million cubic meters in February. Average import prices in this category were broadly stable, increasing only 0.3%.<\/p>\n Within that total, coniferous log imports stood at 1.29 million cubic meters and coniferous sawn timber imports at 0.80 million cubic meters. Both segments recorded substantial declines, down 28.7% and 29.3% respectively from the same month a year earlier.<\/p>\n Other timber species showed mixed results. Eucalyptus log imports fell 4.9%, while okoume log imports dropped sharply by 77.5%. Imports of North American hardwood logs declined 60.9%. Thailand\u2019s rubberwood exports to China were down 31.9%, although the average import price for rubberwood increased by 9.5%.<\/p>\n January-February totals remain weaker, but exports surge<\/strong><\/p>\n For the first two months of 2026, China\u2019s total timber imports reached 7.503 million cubic meters, down 11.2% year on year. Import value over the same period totaled $1.588 billion, a decrease of 9.5%. The steep 28.7% drop in February import volume weighed heavily on the cumulative result, with the Spring Festival holiday also contributing to the softer start.<\/p>\n In contrast, China\u2019s timber and wood product exports delivered a much stronger performance. Exports in February surged 69.9% year on year, while the cumulative increase for January-February reached 34.4%.<\/p>\n By product category, plywood and similar multilayer board exports rose 91.5% in February, with January-February exports up 45.9%. Wood products used for household and decorative applications also performed well, with February exports increasing 62.7% and cumulative exports for the first two months of the year rising 9.9%.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" China\u2019s timber import market recorded a sharp decline in February 2026, with total import volume falling 28.7% year on year. Within that overall drop, however, logs and sawn timber moved in different directions. Log imports increased by 6.5%, while sawn timber imports declined by 5.8%. At the same time, Belarus posted a strong gain in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":55352,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[3775,250,254,179],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-55356","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-timber","category-economy","category-headline-news","category-journal"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/orsiad.com.tr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Cinin-Kereste-Ithalati.png","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/orsiad.com.tr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55356","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/orsiad.com.tr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/orsiad.com.tr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/orsiad.com.tr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/orsiad.com.tr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=55356"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/orsiad.com.tr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55356\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":55357,"href":"https:\/\/orsiad.com.tr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55356\/revisions\/55357"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/orsiad.com.tr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/55352"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/orsiad.com.tr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=55356"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/orsiad.com.tr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=55356"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/orsiad.com.tr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=55356"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}