US Dollar Exchange Rates of
25th February 2015
China Yuan 6.255
Report from China
Pace of decline in house prices eases
New home prices in China registered their fifth monthly
decline in January according the the National Statistics
Bureau. Compared to December 2014 prices for new
homes in 64 of the 70 cities surveyed fell with rising
prices only being recorded in two major cities.
See:
http://www.stats.gov.cn/english/PressRelease/201502/t201
50217_684850.html
Compared with January 2014 prices for second-hand
homes also fell in most of the cities surveyed. Analysts
have pointed out that the pace of price decline has slowed
signalling a measure of market stabilisation and that
perhaps the worst may be over for property developers.
However, there is a massive stock of unsold homes in
most major cities in China, especially in the so-called
"second -tier" cities, where the pace of decline in home
prices continues to accelerate.
Commercial logging in natural forests to be phased
out
President Xi Jinping has signalled that all natural forests
should be protected. According to Zhao Shucong, Head of
the State Forestry Administration (SFA), China will stop
commercial logging in natural forests in three stages.
In the first stage commercial logging in natural forests in
the state-owned forests in the Northeast and Inner
Mongolia will be halted. These areas provide around 2.56
million cubic metres of logs annually. At the same time
logging bans will be piloted in state-owned forest farms,
collectives and individual natural forests falling outside
protected forest areas.
In the second stage, commercial logging in other
categories of natural forests will be phased out but logging
will continue non-natural forests falling within collective
and individual non-natural forest areas. The final stage
will be the cessation of commercial harvesting in all
natural forests by the end of 2020.
China has implemented a Natural Forest Protection
Programme (NFPP) for the past 16 years but the forests in
many provinces have not recovered as anticipated.
It is estimated that almost 200 million hectares of natural
forests need to be protected but currently only 64% fall
with the NFPP.
The loss of around 50 million cubic metres of annual
harvests from the natural forests in China will add to the
already huge gap between demand for timber and supply
and greater reliance will fall on imports until sufficient
plantation areas can be established.
For more see
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/china/2011-
01/10/c_13684087.htm
Distribution of furniture production
There are four major furniture production areas in China
within which 13 significant production bases now exist.
The furniture production bases in Northern China are
mainly in Beijing, Tianjin, Dalian, Shenyang and Harbin.
Furniture production Eastern China is concentrated in
Jiangsu, Shanghai and Zhejiang (Hangzhou city, Wenzhou
city, Shaoxing city, Yuhuan city, Yiwu city in Zhejiang).
Some 40% of China‟s furniture production is concentrated
in the Pearl River Delta in Southern China, generally
considered the birthplace of China's modern furniture
production.
Furniture production in Southwest China is concentrated
in Sichuan province and Chengdu city. In addition,
furniture production in Wuhan city, Fujian province and in
Shandong province contributes significantly to total
production.
MDF exports increased in 2014
MDF exports from Guangdong province more than
doubled to 142,800 cubic metres in 2014. The increase has
been attributed to improvements in the quality of
production to international standards.
MDF exports to Iran and Russia grew by almost 40% in
2014 and new markets were established in Saudi Arabia.
Stocks of Australian logs surge
China‟s stocks of Australian logs on 1 January 2015 were
around 74,000 cubic metres but had jumped to 92,000
cubic metres by 1 February, an almost 25% increase.
Stocks at Penglai Port, Shandong Province were the
largest at 130,000 cubic metres followed by Longkou Port
(also Shandong province). Stocks of Australia logs are less
than 100 000 cubic metres at other ports.
Veneer production begins at China-Russia Tomsk
wood industry zone
It has been reported that a veneer plant with an annual
output of 110,000 cubic metres has begun operation in the
China-Russia Tomsk Wood Industry and Trade
Cooperation Zone.
Construction of this wood industry and trade zone started
in 2010 and is the largest project undertaken within the
framework of the China-Russia Forest Resources
Cooperation, Development and Utilization Project
approved by the Chinese and Russian governments.
The industrial zone will span some 7 square kilometers
when completed and it has been estimated that annually
4.5 million cubic metres of logs will be processed.
Currently 19 enterprises have constructed facilities in the
zone and they produce 200,000 cubic metres of various
types of wood panels. As of the end of 2014, investment in
the zone totalled US$400 million.
   
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