According to the State Forestry Administration, the performance of China’s forest industry showed gains during the first half of 2009. Statistical data showed total output value of forestry industry amounted to RMB726.6 billion yuan in the first six months, which is roughly the same as last year. The output of timber and wood-based panels reached 29.5 million m? and 59.57 million m? respectively. The paper making industry also showed signs of recovery. The output of machine-made paper amounted to 43.10 million tons in the first six months and reached a peak of 8.52 million tons in June alone. According to professionals, these achievements resulted mainly from the following measures taken by governments.

Firstly, the guidance and support for industry development strengthened. For instance, for products produced with timber residues, the policy of refunding upon payment of VAT has been established; export tax rebate rates for 63 forest products have been increased. Secondly, local authorities sped up incentives to encourage development of industrial structures. Some new industries, such as biomass energy, biological medicine production, forest food, forest tourism and biomass material, continued to increase. Thirdly, the import and export of major forest products showed signs of a gradual increase.

Furniture exports through Guangdong Province rise
According to statistics from Guangzhou Customs, the value of exports of furniture and parts (including nonwood furniture) was USD4.4 billion in Guangdong Province in the first half of 2009, down 12% from last year. Of the total, the exports to US and EU were USD 1.52 billion and USD1.06 billion, respectively, down 26% and 11% respectively. To cope with this difficult situation, the Guangdong furniture industry has actively explored ASEAN markets and the export value to these areas continued to rise. In the first half of 2009 the value of its furniture exports to ASEAN was USD440 million. Guangdong furniture is exported to all ASEAN countries except Laos. The value of furniture exports to Malaysia was over USD200 million, to Singapore was USD150 million, more than two times their worth in the first half of 2008. According to experts, ASEAN countries have become one of the largest markets for Guangdong furniture.

Sino-Russia Cooperation discussed in Harbin
Affected by the global financial crisis as well as increased Russian export tariffs, China’s logs imports from Russia in 2008 declined by 26%. Under this circumstance, the two countries discussed potential cooperation in wood downstream processing during the 20th Sino-Russia Economic Cooperation and Trade Fair organized on 15 June 2009 in Harbin. The representatives from governments and enterprises of the two countries also discussed joint exploitation of forest resources in other areas.