China’s tropical log imports fell 14% to 1.537 million cubic metres in the first quarter of 2023.

The top three suppliers of tropical logs to China were Papua New Guinea (45%), Solomon Islands (27%) and the Republic of Congo (10%). 82% of China’s tropical log imports were from these three countries in the first quarter of 2023.

China’s tropical log imports from PNG, Solomon Is. and the Republic of Congo grew 2%, 3% and 88% to 693,000 cubic metres, 416,000 cubic metres and 152,000 cubic metres respectively in the first quarter of 2023.

While tropical log import prices generally declined the CIF price of China's tropical log imports from DRC increased 42% in the first quarter of 2023. In addition, CIF prices for China’s tropical log imports from Suriname rose 8%.

The largest decline in log CIF prices was the 20% drop for log imports from the Republic of Congo.