2017 International Forest Industries Magazines October November 2017 | Page 15

LOGGING & BIOMASS NEWS - WORLD MARKETS
Australia tripling softwood log export volumes
Timberland owners in Australia
are increasingly exploring
opportunities for the exportation
of logs as an alternative to selling
logs in the domestic market. From
2012 to 2016, the export volume
was up 300%, and 2017 is likely to
set a new record high, according
to the Wood Resource Quarterly.
Rising log prices in the export
market have been the key drivers of
the increase in exports. Conversely,
prices in the domestic market have
stagnated the past few years.
Australia has rapidly become
a major exporter of softwood logs
and was the world’s sixth largest
log exporter in 2016. During
the 1H/17, the upward trend
continued with shipments being
17% higher than in the 1H/16. In
2012, Australia’s annual exports
totaled only 1.2 million m3. Just
four years later, in 2016, exports
had tripled to a record high of 3.6
million m3, of which 96% was
destined for China. If the upward
trend seen this far in the first six
months of 2017 continues, export
volumes will end up totaling over
four million m3 in 2017, which
represents approximately 25% of
the total softwood timber harvest
in Australia.
Obviously, exportation of
logs has become an attractive
alternative to domestic sales for
timberland owners in Australia.
Wood Resource Quarterly reports
that in 2012, there were minimal
price premiums for exported
logs over domestic logs, but by
2016 and 2017, premiums had
surged to between AU$35-50/
m3. Despite these recent price
increases, Australia is still
considered to be a low-cost log
supplier in the Chinese market as
compared to other suppliers such
as New Zealand, Russia and North
America, mainly because of higher
domestic sawlog prices in those
markets.
Higher log export volumes
have occurred at the same time as
domestic log demand has gone up
over 20% in four years, from 3.6
million m3 of lumber in 2012 to an
estimated 4.4 million m3 in 2016.
Although sawmill production fell
slightly in 2016 from the previous
year, the output from the Australian
sawmill sector reached record high
levels the past two years thanks
to healthy domestic demand for
softwood lumber.
China’s sawnwood imports increased by 16% in 1H 2017
In the 1H 2017, China’s sawnwood
imports totalled 18.12 million cubic
metres valued at $4.75 billion, a
year-on-year increase of 16% in
volume and 24% in value, ITTO
reports.
The average price for imported
sawnwood in the 1H 2017 was $262
per cubic metre, up 7% over the
same period of 2016.
Of total sawnwood imports,
sawn softwood imports rose 37%
to 12.41 million cubic metres,
accounting for 68% of the national
total. The average price for
imported sawn softwood in the
first half of 2017 was $192 per
cubic metre, up 12% over the same
period of 2016.
On the other hand, sawn
hardwood imports fell 13% to 5.71
million cubic metres. The average
price for imported sawn hardwoods
in the first half of 2017 was $414
per cubic metre, up 20% over the
same period of 2016.
Of total sawn hardwood
imports, sawnwood from tropical
countries amounted to 3.02 million
cubic metres valued at $1.127
billion, up 14% both in volume and
in value. Sawn hardwood imports
from tropical countries accounted
for 17% of the national total.
The average price for sawnwood
imported from tropical countries
was $373 per cubic metre, a year-
on-year slight increase of 0.3%.
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International Forest Industries | OCTOBER / NOVEMBER 2017 13