Although China's wood imports faced certain challenges in the first eight months of this year, the supply of many traditional wood exporting countries has been reduced, and the supply of many traditional wood exporting countries has been reduced, but many African countries have achieved a significant "outbreak" of wood exports to China.
Gabon, as one of the important sources of African timber exports to China, is particularly outstanding. According to statistics, in the first eight months of 2024, Gabon's timber exports to China increased significantly by 53%, reaching 540,000 cubic meters, and the trade volume was as high as 196 million US dollars, an increase of 45%.
Similarly, Ghana's timber exports to China have also shown a positive trend. Although Ghana has a relatively small share of China's African timber import market, the bilateral timber trade has maintained good development since the beginning of this year. Data show that in the first eight months, China's timber imports with Ghana increased by 81 percent, trade volume also increased by 66 percent, reaching $8.77 million.
South Africa, another important African timber exporter, has also achieved significant growth in timber exports to China. In the first eight months, South Africa exported 330,000 cubic meters of timber to China, an increase of 67%, and exports reached $36.45 million, an increase of 52%.
In addition, wood exports from Central Africa and Nigeria to China have also shown rapid growth. Timber exports from Central Africa to China increased by 56% year-on-year to 67,000 cubic meters, and the export value reached 20.26 million US dollars, an increase of 40%.
Since Nigeria lifted the ban on timber exports, timber exports have also shown a good development trend with the support of the government. Although export performance fell short of expectations at the start of the year, it has quickly got back on track in recent months. In the first eight months, Nigeria's timber exports to China jumped 222% to 17,000 cubic meters; Imports also surged 87% to $7.67 million.
In general, since the beginning of this year, in addition to the deepening of economic and trade cooperation between China and African countries, the timber trade between the two sides has also become closer. With the gradual implementation of the outcomes of the Beijing Summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation, the development and utilization of African wood resources will be further promoted, which not only brings new development opportunities for the wood industry of African countries, but also provides more diversified and higher quality wood products for the Chinese market.
