China is now importing less than half as much softwood lumber as it did at its pre‑pandemic peak, with imports declining by more than 12% to just 14.6 million cubic metres in 2025, the third consecutive year imports have fallen. That is according to new data provided by China Customs, which reveals that New Zealand is the only major supplier to increase exports, rising 17% to 276,000 cubic metres, all the while imports from the United States and Finland fell by 39% (to 134,000 cubic metres) and 22% (to 440,000 cubic metres) respectively.
As it stands, more than 78% of lumber imports now arrive at Chinese ports via Russia (which accounts for 70% of all imports) and Belarus, with China’s increasing reliance on both countries (post‑Ukraine sanctions) coinciding with a drop‑off in imports coming from Canada and Sweden.
Wood Central understands that the drop‑off is due to a persistently weak housing market – the main driver of softwood imports, with housing starts down 64% from their 10‑year average, with the Economist warning that China’s property crisis could drag on into 2030. “Given the slower pace of construction, fewer properties are coming onto the market,” it reported last month. “In 2022, new‑home sales made up just over half of all transactions. That figure tumbled to just 26% in 2024 and continued to fall in 2025 across a sample of large cities.”
Last month, Wood Central reported that British Columbia was now targeting China for mass timber imports in the wake of U.S. tariffs on Canadian lumber. “(Chinese construction) is shifting away from mass production into moments when demand for different types of building structures is growing,” according to Julie Lu, a University of British Columbia political ecologist and China scholar.
“Past years of work on opening regulations to wood‑frame construction have allowed for that. Plus, we have these new engineered wood technologies that allow for building larger buildings, like what we see in China with wood construction. So, I think there is a great possibility (for opportunity).”
