Workers process timber at a factory in Guannan county, East China's Jiangsu Province. The county has been accelerating industrial upgrading to transform itself from a base of processing primary commodities to high-end products. Photo: cnsphoto

At the China-Belarus Wood Products Trade Fair, co-hosted by the China Timber and Wood Products Distribution Association (CTWPDA) and the Belarusian Embassy in China, which was held via video link on Thursday, over 70 Chinese and Belarusian timber companies and traders had an open discussion about the possibilities for future timber business, a highly complementary good between the two countries.

On the sideline of the trade fair on Thursday, the Belarusian Ambassador to China Yuri Senko held high expectation for the prospect of timber business among companies of the two countries. Today's fair will bring potential partners closer and find new and mutually beneficial growth points in bilateral trade, Senko said.

This year marks the 30th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and Belarus. Over the past three decades, the two countries have seen deepening economic and trade cooperation.

"Belarus has actively participated in the Belt and Road Initiative for the benefits of the two peoples and bilateral trade cooperation has achieved important results," Li Jiafeng, president of CTWPDA, said at the fair on Thursday.

Taking timber trade as an example, in 2018, China imported 61,000 cubic meters of sawn timber from Belarus, and in 2021, that figure reached 468,000 cubic meters.

"In just three years, the import volume has increased by 7 times, indicating that the timber trade between the two sides is opening a new chapter," Li said.

Thursday's fair came just one day after a signing ceremony for the memorandum of cooperation was conducted between CTWPDA and its Belarusian counterpart on Wednesday, paving the way for a further cooperation in the future.

China is the world's largest wood product processing and consuming country. While there has been some impact due to the global pandemic, international shipping and land transportation hurdles, and the sluggish downstream demand, China's wood industry has continued to develop and show great resilience, industry insiders said.

Purefine Wood Trade Agency, a Changzhou-based trading company in East China's Jiangsu Province, which is also one of many Chinese participants of Thursday's online event, told the Global Times that they have been conducting wood trade with partners in Belarus for many years, and will definitely increase timber imports from Belarus.

While the current domestic demand for the corresponding downstream industries such as real estate and furnishing that require a lot of wood supplies is temporarily weak due to the epidemic situation and other factors, there is a good expectation for the future business potential, according to a staffer at the company.

"The governmental relations between China and Belarus have been very stable, and the domestic market acceptance of Belarusian product is high," the staffer told the Global Times, adding that the company is currently using Chinese yuan for settlement, a new advantage for the cross-border trade flow.

In 2021, the output value of China's wood products exceeded 2 trillion yuan, and the import volume also reached up to 10,500 cubic meters, according to industry data.

The domestic demand for real estate will improve the booming development of the wood products industry, and Belarus is a country rich in forest resources; therefore, there is a good expectation that the timber trade between the two sides will become bigger and bigger, Li said.

Global Times