Panels & Furniture Asia March/April 2018

SHOW PREVIEW 59
The Russian Pavilion will return again for the second time along with the Dongguan Veneer Alliance
“The show has been improving. It focuses on wood
materials and is very useful for our members. We’ve got
a pretty good number of visitors visiting and they are
professional timber trade people. The members are very
happy so I believe this is a quality show that is valuable for
us,” said John Chan, AHEC’s regional director.
EXPLORING CHINA’S POTENTIAL
According to RISI, a company specialising in providing
information and data for the global forest products
industry, China’s imports of softwood and hardwood logs
have jumped by 42 per cent in the last five years, while
imports of lumber soared by 81 per cent.
The country is the world’s largest importer of wood
fibre, and largest exporter of plywood, flooring, wooden
furniture and other related products. While rising labour
costs and other factors have been potential drags on
growth, 2017 still saw record-high imports of logs and
lumber.
In addition, despite the central government’s move
to aggressively reduce financial risk and pollution in the
country, the wood content of China’s primary forest
products imports will increase from an estimated 194
million cubic metres in 2015 to 254 million cubic metres
by 2025, reported RISI.
The country’s timber and forest products imports are expected
to increase by 60 million cubic metres by 2025, and will eventually
account for 12 to 13 per cent of global timber harvest.
As the only premier platform for the wood materials sector,
visitors and exhibitors can expect opportunities to explore and
enhance productivity and competitiveness at this dedicated
business-to-business event.
The world-class show will take place in Shanghai from June
25 to 27 and a full programme of workshops and seminars will
be held over the three days – with more details to be provided in
the following months.
PANELS & FURNITURE ASIA • Issue 2 • March / April 2018