The Global Timber Index (GTI) Report for October 2024 from the Global Green Supply Chain initiative (GGSC) revealed the Chinese timber market was showing signs of a recovery as the GTI index for the country registered 50.9%, above the critical value (50%) for the second consecutive month.

With the start of the traditional peak season for China's wood products sector an uptick in both production and new orders has been observed. In contrast, demand signals reported by some other countries were still in decline. The GTI indices for the Republic of the Congo (48.1%), Ghana (48.0%), Thailand (44.2%), Brazil (43.2%), Gabon (35.4%), Mexico (33.9%) and Malaysia (22.8%) were all well below the critical value of 50% indicating that in these countries the overall business prosperity of GTI participating enterprises shrank from the previous month.

However, in the African countries (Gabon, Ghana, and the Republic of the Congo) the previous contraction in the timber sector eased in October and it's worth noting that in the Republic of the Congo the timber market was showing signs of stabilisation on both supply and demand sides. 

On 25 October, the China Securities Regulatory Commission approved the registration of log futures and options on the Dalian Commodity Exchange. Many industry insiders said that the launch of log futures is of great significance as it can provide the market with authentic, effective, continuous and authoritative prices serving as an important reference for import and processing enterprises.

It is worth noting that since July the unit price of imported logs declined for three consecutive months. On 11 October, the European Commission announced that it decided to initiate an anti-dumping proceeding concerning hardwood plywood originating in China.

In October the GTI-China index registered 50.9%, a decrease of 3.3 percentage points from the previous month and was above the critical value (50%) for 2 consecutive months indicating that the business prosperity of the timber enterprises represented by the GTI-China index expanded from the previous month.

In October China's timber sector maintained an upward momentum and an uptick in both production and new orders were observed. As for the eleven sub-indexes, five indexes (production, new orders, purchase quantity, inventory of main raw materials and delivery time) were above the critical value of 50%, the export orders index was at the critical value, while the remaining five indices (existing orders, inventory of finished products, import, purchase price, and employees) were all below the critical value.

Compared to the previous month, the indices for existing orders, purchase price, inventory of main raw materials, and employees increased by 2.5-9.5 percentage points and the indices for production, new orders, export orders, inventory of finished products, purchase quantity, import, and delivery time declined by 1.6-8.1 percentage points.