OREANDA-NEWS. December 05, 2013. Residential construction in China has grown in 2013 despite the Chinese government’s effort to cool the market.

After a negative year in 2012, starts for commercial residential units have grown by 6.4% year-to-date as of September, according to Rusforest report. Residential units sold were up by 2.0% in 2012, but have risen 23.9% year-to-date. Average house prices were up 8%-9% year on year in September for major cities.

China is increasingly dependent on imports for both sawn softwood and the logs used by the domestic industry.

Chinese imports of logs and sawnwood have been growing in 2013, with year-to-date gains (as of August) of 14.6% and 13.0%, respectively. For logs, New Zealand has taken over the lead from Russia as the top supplier. Russian supply continues to decline - down 11.1% year-to-date. Imported U.S. logs have rebounded by 44.4% after slipping in 2012. Logs from Canada are up 11.2%.

On the sawnwood side, imports from Canada (-2.0% year-to-date) have been surpassed by imports from Russia (+12.4%). The decline in Canadian sawnwood to China was impacted by Canadian exporters redirecting business to the improving U.S. market.

For the whole 2013, Chinese sawnwood imports are expected to be 10-11% higher than 2012 (about 22 million m3). Russian sawnwood exports to China are projected to grow by 10% in 2013 to 7.7 million m3.