The market analyst company Woodstat reports that China imported approximately 1.88 million m³ of softwood lumber in December 2019 (-5% compared to 2018), according to figures from the Chinese Customs.
The import totaled 27.1 million m³ during 2019 (+11% compared to 2018). Since China began importing softwood lumber in smaller volumes over 10 years ago, Russia and Canada have completely dominated as suppliers. Limited volumes have been imported from the US, Europe, Chile and New Zealand.
China imported approximately 3.39 million m³ of softwood lumber from Russia during 4Q 2019 (-9% compared to 4Q 2018), 1.14 million m³ from main European countries (+90%) and 761,000 m³ from Canada (-33%).
The rapid increase in import from Europe is directly reflected in the increase in Europe's market share. The market share for Europe reached in 4Q 2019 a new record level at 20% (4Q 2018: 10%). The Russian market share in the Chinese market is slightly decreasing from a very high level and reached 58% in 4Q 2019 (4Q 2018: 63%). The market share for Canada decreased during the same period from 19% to 13%.
