THE CONFERENCE PROCEEDINGS - IFEAT

China started the industrial scale GR/GT production in the late 1940s, which was the time that GR/GTproduction in North America faded out rapidly. Commercial gum tapping in North America almoststopped by the 1980s. Mr Michael B. Wimberly presented the paper A Review of North American andGlobal Turpentine Sector at IFEAT Montreal 2008, which gave us a clear picture of how GTdisappeared in North America and was replaced by more economical CST (Diag. 1).Diag.1 Turpentine Production in North AmericaChina has been increasing GT production from that same period, emerging as a major gum turpentinesupplier since then to meet the expanding global demand. Diag. 2 depicts that gum turpentine annualproduction remained around 70,000 tonnes in the 1980s to 1990s. It has then steadily increased yearby year since 2000 to make up for the reduction in CST production in North America due to theclosure of pulping mills (Diag. 1 North American CST production) and to meet the expanding globaldemand. Finally GT production reached a peak of 140,000 tonnes in 2006, but dropped significantlyin 2008 because of the disastrous snowstorms in most of the crop regions. Production then recoveredto between 120,000 tonnes and 140,000 tonnes in recent years. The rise of Chinese GT production hasboosted China as one of the most important players supporting the sustainable development of thearoma chemicals industry.!"""#$% ""Chinese GT Production 1980-2011Source: China National Forest Product Industry Association (CNFPIA)%!!"$#!"$!!"#!"!"$&'!"$&'("$&'&"$&&)"$&&#"$&&*"$&&&"%!!$"%!!)"%!!#"%!!*"%!!&"%!$$"Diag.2 GT Historical Production in China92