Latest customs data shows that in July 2025, China imported 379,000 cubic meters of sawn rubberwood from Thailand, a year-on-year decrease of 20.2% but a month-on-month increase of 2.9%. The import value reached $97.65 million, down 17.6% year-on-year but up 6.2% month-on-month.
Notably, the average landed price for the month was approximately $257.7 per cubic meter, up 3.2% year-on-year and another 1.3% month-on-month, marking the second consecutive month of synchronized growth in both volume and value.
Overall, from January to July 2025, China imported a total of 2.59 million cubic meters of sawn rubberwood from Thailand, a year-on-year decline of 12.7%. The average import price was $257 per cubic meter, up 2% year-on-year, with a monthly average import volume of about 370,300 cubic meters.
Apart from the consecutive recovery in both volume and price of rubberwood imports from Thailand, the latest GTI report also indicates that Thailand's timber industry maintained an expansion trend during the summer heavy rainfall period. Key prosperity indices for logging, production, new orders, and export orders in July all showed expansion.
However, several Thai wood companies reported that new orders continued to decline, and persistent heavy rainfall further constrained production capacity, with raw material shortages remaining unresolved. According to GTI's tracking report on Thailand's timber industry, the raw material inventory index for major suppliers in the country continued to contract in July, while the procurement price index continued to rise. This indicates that raw material shortages are systematically driving up procurement costs for Thai factories.
The Director of the Office of Trade Policy and Strategy at Thailand's Ministry of Commerce stated that due to rising raw material and other production costs, prices of local wood products such as flooring, door frames, and window frames are continuously increasing. It is expected that the expansion of infrastructure construction in the third quarter, along with the government's accelerated budget allocations to stimulate the economy, may further drive up building material prices.
It is reported that to reduce costs and alleviate raw material shortages, some factories have initiated inventory optimization strategies by utilizing existing wood and scrap resources to develop high-value-added products, thereby maintaining operational resilience.
