How To Cope With Changes In The Wood Veneers Market

In recent years, the international wood veneer industry has shown multidimensional structural changes, facing both reduced demand and supply chain challenges, as well as new opportunities arising from technological innovation, green transformation, and regional cooperation.

1、 Differentiation of demand structure: traditional market contraction and emerging fields rise

China's demand contraction and structural adjustment

As the world's largest importer of timber, weak demand in the Chinese market has had a significant impact on traditional supply areas such as Africa. Gabon's veneer production index for the fourth quarter of 2024 decreased by 4% year-on-year, and Congo (Brazzaville)'s exports of logs to China's Oguman region decreased by 12.9%. However, there is a trend of differentiation in the segmented fields: China's imported rubber wood veneer increased by 84.7% year-on-year from January to September 2024, reflecting the upgraded demand for cost-effective materials in furniture manufacturing, customized home furnishings and other fields. In addition, the export of niche high-end tropical timber to China has increased by 20% against the trend, with a unit price increase of 16.9%, demonstrating the resilience of demand in the domestic high-end market.

The supporting role of the European and Southeast Asian markets

The demand for plywood in the EU market remains strong, despite the limited production of plywood in Congo (Brazzaville) due to power shortages, achieving a significant growth of 26.7% for the whole year of 2024. Southeast Asia, with its geographical advantages and capacity expansion, has become a regional trade hub: Vietnam and the Philippines have stable procurement volumes for materials such as Okuman and Tali, while China's exports of single boards to Southeast Asia under the RCEP framework are expected to increase by 37% by 2025.

2、 Technological innovation drives industrial upgrading: from labor-intensive to intelligent manufacturing

Automation and digitalization reshape production models

Top enterprises have significantly improved efficiency through intelligent transformation. By introducing fully automatic hot pressing units and IoT systems, the manual requirement for the hot pressing process has been reduced from 6 people to 1 person, resulting in a product qualification rate of 98.5%, and achieving full process digital management from raw material traceability to finished product outbound. The investment intensity of intelligent manufacturing equipment in China's woodworking board industry has increased by 142% compared to 2020, and the penetration rate of continuous flat pressing production lines has reached 61%. It is expected that the coverage rate of intelligent factories will exceed 75% by 2030.

Breakthrough in Environmental Protection Technology and Product Upgrade

The application of formaldehyde free adhesives and biobased materials is accelerating. The market share of E0 grade environmentally friendly boards in China is expected to exceed 60% by 2025, and the popularity rate of water-based paint coating technology is expected to increase by 40 percentage points compared to three years ago. 80% of the hardwood veneers exported from the Primorsky Krai of Russia to China are high value-added products, such as birch formaldehyde free plywood, filling the gap in the domestic high-end market. The EU CBAM carbon tariff has forced companies to reduce emissions, with the carbon emissions per unit product of top companies decreasing by 33% compared to 2020. The target for carbon neutral production line coverage is to reach 30% by 2025.

3、 Green Transformation and Policy Game: Sustainable Development Becomes Core Competitiveness

Forest certification and carbon tariffs reshape trade rules

FSC certification has become a "passport" to enter the European and American markets, with an average annual growth rate of 25% in the use of FSC certified raw materials by Chinese companies. The CBAM carbon tariff, which will be fully implemented by the European Union in 2026, requires export companies to account for the full lifecycle carbon emissions of their products, forcing major suppliers such as Russia and Southeast Asia to accelerate the layout of forestry carbon sequestration projects. For example, Gabon plans to generate $120 million in revenue through forest carbon trading by 2025 to alleviate downward pressure on exports.

Circular Economy and Competition for Alternative Materials

New materials such as plant fiber veneer quickly penetrate. These products made from bamboo fiber and straw have a biodegradation rate of over 90%, and the global market size is expected to exceed 5 billion US dollars by 2025, replacing traditional wood veneers in the packaging and construction fields. The performance of bamboo fiber based veneer developed by Chinese enterprises meets the EU EN13986 standard, with a premium capacity increase of 45% -60%, becoming a new growth point for exports.

If you have any questions about wood production, please feel free to contact:

Freya Gao

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Email: letty@sdshinemachinery.com