Trade in forestry products in the Asia-Pacific region is dominated by a few major countries. As Table 1 shows, 98 percent of gross trade (total exports plus total imports) involving Asia Pacific countries is participated in by one of 13 nations. A closer examination of Table 1 shows 75 percent of Asia Pacific trade involves the participation of Japan, China, Indonesia, Malaysia or Korea, with Japan alone participating in 34 percent of gross trade. Furthermore, an examination of the Direction of Trade tables in the FAO Yearbook (1994) shows that a minimum of 38 percent of Japan's trade is identifiable as being with other Asia Pacific countries. It can also be calculated, by deducting the portion of trade readily identifiable as being with countries external to the region, that Japan is a partner in at least 48 percent of the intra-regional forestry trade in the Asia-Pacific region.
It can be seen that the five largest exporting countries are Indonesia, Malaysia, Japan, New Zealand and China. These five account for 75 percent of exporting in the Asia Pacific region, with Indonesia and Malaysia together responsible for more than 50 percent of exports. Japan, China, Korea, Hong Kong and Thailand are the five largest importing countries in the region accounting for 86 percent of its gross imports; Japan and China alone account for 63 percent of imports.
It is evident from the table that, in value terms, the Asia-Pacific region runs a major forest products deficit with the rest of the world. Net imports of forest products total more than US$18 billion for the region.
Table 1: Trade in the Asia Pacific Region (1994)
Country |
Roundwood |
Sawnwood |
Panels |
Pulp |
Paper |
Forest Products |
||||||||
(all figures '000's) |
Imports (US$) |
Exports (US$) |
Imports (US$) |
Exports (US$) |
Imports (US$) |
Exports (US$) |
Imports (US$) |
Exports (US$) |
Imports (US$) |
Exports (US$) |
Imports (US$) |
Exports (US$) |
Trade (US$) |
Asia-Pac trade (%) |
Japan |
6802285 |
2668 |
4567400 |
18137 |
2390069 |
35764 |
1824404 |
7736 |
1320050 |
1426340 |
16980960 |
1491974 |
18472934 |
34.24 |
China |
496248 |
135610 |
622963 |
272841 |
1444668 |
194672 |
781053 |
23778 |
2100412 |
622461 |
5466960 |
1262413 |
6729373 |
12.47 |
Indonesia |
30290 |
22542 |
9377 |
353904 |
21197 |
3792433 |
438129 |
68876 |
187060 |
460377 |
689256 |
4730688 |
5419944 |
10.05 |
Malaysia |
12820 |
995081 |
27740 |
1627137 |
34015 |
1593750 |
41585 |
0 |
581599 |
56275 |
698068 |
4280304 |
4978372 |
9.22 |
Korea |
1087455 |
738 |
462687 |
18337 |
735992 |
50194 |
825838 |
779 |
501053 |
931610 |
3631409 |
1002764 |
4634173 |
8.59 |
Hong Kong |
104897 |
961 |
183850 |
2813 |
588913 |
18519 |
12094 |
2567 |
1908061 |
759179 |
2804335 |
784330 |
3588665 |
6.65 |
Australia |
898 |
362622 |
432941 |
20212 |
102103 |
91621 |
89086 |
0 |
934351 |
157792 |
1559954 |
632702 |
2192656 |
4.06 |
Thailand |
267377 |
7909 |
598779 |
71225 |
40497 |
45243 |
150315 |
30659 |
532157 |
160724 |
1630235 |
319255 |
1949490 |
3.61 |
Singapore |
32492 |
13828 |
213187 |
188513 |
243388 |
192556 |
14031 |
24333 |
627687 |
266164 |
1135073 |
701231 |
1836304 |
3.40 |
New Zealand |
1159 |
474740 |
23289 |
320403 |
7234 |
209845 |
7330 |
235844 |
190295 |
203829 |
229571 |
1445325 |
1674896 |
3.10 |
PNG |
1 |
641152 |
73 |
1992 |
343 |
926 |
0 |
0 |
5964 |
5 |
6382 |
644075 |
650457 |
1.21 |
Philippines |
52977 |
1179 |
54197 |
27330 |
17737 |
18826 |
28163 |
0 |
200585 |
2152 |
354415 |
90116 |
444531 |
0.82 |
India |
48118 |
1165 |
2496 |
4231 |
7725 |
17543 |
80421 |
186 |
140430 |
10721 |
279889 |
35376 |
315265 |
0.58 |
TOTAL |
8937017 |
2660195 |
7198979 |
2927075 |
5633881 |
6261892 |
4292449 |
394758 |
9229704 |
5057629 |
35466507 |
17420553 |
52887060 |
98.00 |
Source: FAO 1996
Table 2: Wood Production in the Asia-Pacific Region (1994)
Country (all figures '000's) |
Sawnwood (m3) |
Wood Panels (m3) |
Wood Pulp (tonnes) |
Paper (tonnes) |
Total Industrial Roundwood volume (m3) |
% of Total Asia-Pacific |
China |
25162 |
21590 |
2704 |
26903 |
101902 |
34.4 |
Indonesia |
8138 |
10518 |
1259 |
3054 |
38173 |
12.9 |
Malaysia |
8843 |
4880 |
103 |
574 |
36435 |
12.3 |
Japan |
25743 |
7459 |
10575 |
28527 |
32362 |
10.9 |
India |
17460 |
442 |
1147 |
2626 |
24792 |
8.4 |
Australia |
3514 |
1094 |
987 |
2232 |
18662 |
6.3 |
New Zealand |
2834 |
1042 |
1363 |
860 |
16783 |
5.7 |
Vietnam |
721 |
39 |
59 |
129 |
4399 |
1.5 |
Philippines |
386 |
308 |
151 |
518 |
3200 |
1.1 |
Thailand |
746 |
929 |
64 |
97 |
2784 |
0.9 |
Other |
70223 |
2358 |
696 |
7427 |
16485 |
5.6 |
TOTAL |
100569 |
50659 |
19108 |
72947 |
295977 |
100.0 |
Source: FAO (1996)
Table 2 lists forest products production for the 10 largest roundwood producers in the Asia-Pacific region. Wood production is heavily concentrated in a handful of countries with the four largest producers China, Indonesia, Malaysia and Japan accounting for 70 percent of production and the seven largest producers accounting for 91 percent of production. Vietnam is the only country among the top ten wood producers which is not listed in Table 1 as a major wood products trader. Korea, Hong Kong and Singapore are major wood traders which do not produce large quantities of wood. Processing facilities in these three countries account for the significant production of manufactured wood products from "Other" countries.
Given the dominance of the 13 countries identified in Table 1 and the complexities of trade matrices it seems sufficient to assume the major impacts of the Uruguay Round outcomes, and other trade arrangements, will largely fall among these countries. The bulk of the analysis in this paper will, consequently, concentrate on these 13 countries.