A cooperation and investment agreement was recently signed between China Forestry Group Corporation and the administration in Ba’nan district of Chongqing municipality. An investment of RMB23 billion will be used to build timber trade ports, a timber processing zone and a wood products demonstration and trading centre in Western China.
Currently in China the timber ports and industrial zones are mainly distributed in coastal areas and along the border areas and there is a gap in the southwestern regions of China.
The new infrastructure will result in large volumes of imported timber entering the southwestern regions and this will cut transportation costs for enterprises in the region and will also expand employment opportunities.
It is forecast that demand for timber would expand to 100 million cubic metres in the southwestern region including Yunnan, Sichuan, Guizhou, Guangxi provinces, Xizang Autonomous Region and Chongqing municipality.
Chongqing municipality is the distribution centre in southwestern China and the technology for timber processing mills is well established and production costs are very competitive, say analysts.
