In recent years, the trade of wood forest products between China and countries along the "Belt and Road" has made great progress, and the trade cooperation has reached a new peak, the bilateral value chain has been closely integrated, and the trade complementarity has been significantly improved. However, affected by factors such as unbalanced regional development, uncertain external environment and green trade barriers, the trade cooperation of wood forest products between China and countries along the "Belt and Road" is facing great challenges. How to grasp the development opportunities of jointly building the "Belt and Road", use geographical advantages to promote the construction of regional value chain system led by China and countries along the "Belt and Road", and build the timber legality system of China and countries along the "Belt and Road", is of great significance to promote the optimization and upgrading of wood forest products trade and build a forest products trading power.
Cooperation has been deepened
The trade of wood forest products between China and the countries along the "Belt and Road" has shown a steady growth trend, among which the import and export trade with the maritime Silk Road countries (mainly concentrated in the 10 ASEAN countries), as well as the export trade with maritime South Asian countries and maritime West Asian countries is relatively large; Trade with the overland Silk Road countries is relatively small and concentrated, mainly the six CIS countries. From the perspective of domestic geographical distribution, the eastern region is an important window for the trade of wood forest products with countries along the "Belt and Road"; The central and western regions have relatively few trade links with the countries along the "Belt and Road" in wood forest products, but the scale of trade has gradually increased in recent years.
With the continuous advancement of economic globalization, the global value chain division system has become a new model of wood and forest products division production. At present, the share of China's wood forest products import and export value added along the "One Belt and One Road" countries has increased significantly, especially the import value added, "One Belt and One Road" countries have surpassed the United States and become the main supplier of wood forest products in China. In addition, the regional characteristics of the added value of wood forest products trade among countries along the "Belt and Road" have deepened, laying the foundation for the construction of the "Belt and Road" regional value chain.
In recent years, the trade complementarity between China and the mainland Silk Road countries has been significantly enhanced, and compared with the paper industry, the wood processing industry has shown stronger complementarity and a more stable growth trend. China and the Maritime Silk Road countries have outstanding trade complementarity in the paper industry, but there are large fluctuations and they are susceptible to external economic and political factors.
Trade challenges coexist
The overland Silk Road has provided new opportunities for the opening-up of the central and western inland regions, and the Maritime Silk Road has provided a new platform for further opening-up of the eastern coastal regions. Thanks to advanced infrastructure, rich resources and policy advantages, the eastern coastal area has become the main force of wood forest products trade between China and countries along the "Belt and Road". In contrast, the central and western inland areas have relatively backward infrastructure, less external investment, and relatively little trade with wood forest products in countries along the "Belt and Road".
Affected by factors such as the global economic downturn and the game between major powers, the demands of countries along the "Belt and Road" to participate in the global value chain division system began to shift from "efficiency" to "security and resilience". The trade network of wood forest products in countries along the "Belt and Road" is complex, involving a variety of products and markets. While providing rich woody forest products resources for our country, this diversity also faces the risk of price fluctuations and trade policy changes in the international market. Geopolitical instability will also have a direct impact on the trade of wood forest products in China and countries along the "Belt and Road", which may lead to the interruption of the trade route of wood forest products, or even the re-establishment of trade relations.
With the promotion of global ecological protection awareness, green trade barriers have gradually become an important factor affecting international trade. Green trade barriers usually include strict environmental protection standards and sustainability requirements, such as the forest certification system, which not only represents the international market's increasingly high requirements for the certification and labeling system of sustainable wood forest products, but also becomes the key to market access. China and countries along the Belt and Road are faced with the challenge of improving the quality of wood forest products to meet international environmental standards, which often involves complex supply chain management and production process improvement. For many producers, especially small and medium-sized enterprises, meeting these standards means more technology upgrades and capital investment. Therefore, green trade barriers pose a great challenge to China and the countries along the "Belt and Road" in enhancing the discourse power of wood forest products trade rules.
Build regional value chain
As a country with scarce forest resources, China should adopt diversified strategies to promote the high-quality development of wood forest products trade in the face of the challenges of forest resources and market at home and abroad.
First, strengthen infrastructure construction and logistics system improvement. For example, by promoting the construction of new land-sea channels in the central and western regions, the trade balance of wood forest products between regions can be effectively promoted, thus releasing the advantages of China's super-large-scale market and domestic demand potential. Secondly, it is essential to establish an organic interface strategy at home and abroad. This means that while meeting the needs of the domestic market, it is also necessary to actively coordinate the relevant elements in the international market, especially to bring the countries along the "Belt and Road" into the scope of coordinated development. At present, China has gradually become the center of the production network and market network of wood forest products in countries along the "Belt and Road", which has laid the foundation for promoting the establishment of a regional trade network with strong inclusiveness and high complementarity. Therefore, we should make use of the platform of jointly building the "Belt and Road" initiative to build a stable and mutually beneficial international forest products trade pattern and promote the in-depth cooperation between Chinese and foreign forest products industries.
The construction of forest products regional value chain led by China and countries along the "Belt and Road" can effectively control the impact of external risks on the regional value chain. Specifically, by strengthening multilateral or bilateral cooperation in the region, on the one hand, China can take advantage of the rich forest resources and labor force advantages of the countries along the "Belt and Road"; On the other hand, countries along the "Belt and Road" can enjoy China's innovative technology, thereby reducing trade dependence on imports from developed countries and maintaining the security and stability of the regional value chain. China should make effective use of the "Belt and Road" initiative to accelerate the reconstruction of the regional value chain of wood forest products led by China and countries along the "Belt and Road", promote forest products trading enterprises to "go out", extend their industrial value chain, and rationally optimize China's production and market network layout in countries along the "Belt and Road".
Green trade barrier is the main problem that China's wood forest products trade enterprises face in "going out". In order to break through the green trade barriers and promote the high-quality development of wood forest products trade between China and countries along the "Belt and Road", China needs to start from improving forest certification standards, strengthen the construction of domestic forest certification system, and ensure that it is in line with international standards. Strengthen forest cultivation and sustainable management, and ensure the sustainable use of forest resources through scientific management and technological innovation. In addition, as a large trading country of wood forest products, China needs to play a leading role in promoting environmental awareness and production standards of domestic enterprises to adapt to international market requirements, so as to occupy a more favorable position in the international wood forest products market.
