Source: NCDA&CS, 10/7/21

• World Bank revised up its projection of China's GDP to expand by 8.5% year-on-year in 2021, compared with a forecast of 8.1% in April, according to a research report published on 29th. China's recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic is in good shape, showing the strong resilience and vigorous dynamics of the economy, said Liu Qiao, dean of the Guanghua School of Management of Peking University. 

• USDA predicted that China's soybean imports in 2020 / 21 marketing year were expected to be 99 million metric tons, higher than the 97 million metric tons predicted in August. Moreover, China's soybean imports in 2021 / 22 are expected to be 101 million metric tons, which is the same as the forecast last month.

• According to the report issued by China Timber and Wood Products Distribution Association, China's timber imports have doubled in 10 years. And from Jan-Jul 2021,China’s log and sawn timber imports totaled 60.944 million m3, with amount reaching USD$10.694 billion, a year-on-year increase of 3.9% and 20.5% respectively. Among them, imported softwood logs and imported softwood sawn timber accounted for 78% and 68.8% respectively. In the next 30 years, it’s expected that the development of rural areas in China requires a lot of softwood. In the long run, this will be the largest softwood timber market. 

• A total of more than 2.2 billion COVID-19 vaccine doses have been administered in China as of 27th, the National Health Commission of China said. At present, there are totally 3 high-risk regions and 42 medium- risk regions located in Fujian and Heilongjiang provinces. Even though, with the arrival of the golden week holiday during 1st - 7th Oct., almost all of the local governments across the country have issued new policies to deal with a large number of domestic travels coming soon.

• Moreover, the China Global Wood Conference was a great event and we met with dozens of new potential importers. I have also learnt that the “New Rural Area” development strategy in China will also create a huge market for softwood in the decades to come.