The likely impact of a prolonged trade dispute between China and the US is undermining the confidence of producers, reports by ITTO.
Over the past 12 months, even as China’s GDP growth slowed, demand for West African logs and sawnwood held up but the combined effect of tariff increases in the US and the expanding of anti-dumping tariffs is hitting China’s wood product exports to the US and this will inevitably lead to a slowing of orders for West African producers.
Shipments to European markets are beginning to slow as the usual holiday season lull in demand starts. Producers had respectable business levels in the EU market in 2018 and in the early part of this year demand was steady.
Last year there were increased exports of sawnwood to the EU with Gabon seeing a 15 percent rise in shipments, a 13 percent rise from Congo, a 15 percent rise from Ghana and a 5 percent rise in shipments from the DRC. However, sawnwood shipments from Ivory Coast fell 10 percent.
There was also a rise in log exports to the EU last year except for the 6 percent decline in shipments from Cameroon and the 21 percent drop from Equatorial Guinea. Most of the gains in EU imports of tropical logs last year were in France and Belgium.
