Fast-growing tropical plantation species in Malaysia
China’s appetite for logs has continued into 2016 with total log imports rising 17 per cent year-on-year to reach 19 million cubic metres, according to the ITTO. The demand for tropical logs however have declined.
In 2015 tropical log imports accounted for around 40 per cent of all log imports but this tumbled to just 18 per cent 2016. The volume of tropical log imports amounted to just 9.3 million cubic metres from the 19 million imported in 2015.
In contrast, tropical sawn wood imports continued on an upward trajectory. Of the 32 million cubic metres of sawn wood imported in 2016, some 20 per cent was from tropical suppliers. The proportion of tropical to total sawn wood imports (18 percent) was maintained into 2016.
