The world’s largest wood producing countries, largest wood exporters and importers are contributing immensely to the global timber industry and wood products industry. According the latest statistics reported by the UN’s FAO, the global production and trade of all major wood-based products recorded their highest ever values in 2018, reflecting a steadily growing demand of timber and wood products in the global market. With this growing momentum set to continue through 2020, the world’s largest wood producing countries, largest wood exporters and importers are expected to witness a stronger increase in their production and trading volumes over the near future.

 

China, by far the largest producer and consumer of wood based panels and paper, has grown in importance as both a producer and consumer of forest products, and has recently overtaken a number of other big players in key product groups (e.g. the United States of America in sawn wood production). With the rapid development of China’s economy, there is a growing demand for timber from industries of construction, papermaking and furniture manufacturing. Russia, the U.S., New Zealand and Canada are the four largest sources of China’s timber imports, providing 64% of the total import volume of timber in China annually. In particular, Russia and the U.S. provide about 31% and nearly 10% respectively of the total timber imports into China.