Panels & Furniture Asia March/April 2024

MARKET REPORT
How have US hardwood
exports to South East Asia
performed in 2023?
Regional director of the American Hardwood Export Council (AHEC)
Greater China and South East Asia region, John Chan, updates
Yap Shi Quan about the slow market in South East Asia, and
shares how AHEC plans to boost their presence in the region
with a “multi-pronged approach”.
remain their key drivers of volume.
In particular, American ash (6%)
was their top species for Thailand
and the Philippines. But AHEC is not
concerned with promoting these
species.
According to Chan, 2023 has been
a “challenging” year for American
hardwood exports to South East Asia
and Greater China. As a whole, exports
to Greater China and South East
Asia declined 21.3% in the first three
quarters of 2023 compared to 2022.
“Exports to South East Asia saw a yearon-year
fall of 36.3% in the first three
quarters of 2023 compared to 2022,”
Chan went on to elaborate. “Vietnam
is the biggest market for hardwood
in South East Asia, where factories
produce furniture that is exported to
the world. Slow economic growth and
persistent inflation at a global level
contributed to the fall in demand for
American hardwood.”
The “bright spark” for them was a spike
in sales in Q3 2023 compared to Q2.
This was a similar trend in Greater
China as well.
As for the types of wood species in
demand in South East Asia, Chan
mentioned that American white
oak (37.7%), yellow poplar (25.9%),
walnut (18.6%) and red oak (15.7%)
Data recently by the United States
Department of Agriculture shows
exports of American red oak lumber to
Indonesia increased by 15% in volume
in 2023, making it the dominant
species of choice for that market. New
figures have also shown that American
white oak lumber continues to be the
most popular oak in Vietnam, which
is the biggest importer of American
species in the region, with year-onyear
volume growth of 3% to 89,000m 3
and a value of nearly US$49m.
“AHEC has always encouraged good
stewardship of the forest’s resources,”
he explained. “One of the ways to do
that is to use all the species the forests
provide rather than a select few. As
such, we will continue to promote the
use of underutilised species, including
red oak, maple and cherry.”
“Cambodia is an interesting emerging
market for us,” Chan added. “And
while in many ways the South East
Asia market as a whole has been
14 PANELS & FURNITURE ASIA | MARCH / APRIL 2024