Home / Lights & Construction

The prices of bulk commodities have distorted the market and increased the cost burden of enterprises.

Affected by high temperature and rainfall from June to July each year, it is the traditional off-season for the domestic construction industry, and the decline in demand will naturally affect market prices. Recently, the domestic log market has weakened, and the price adjustment range of some logs is 200-300 yuan. On the contrary, New Zealand log export prices still maintain a strong upward trend.

New Zealand is the world's largest timber exporter, accounting for 20% of the global market. Under geopolitical pressure, the foreign minister recently urged exporters to diversify their markets more widely.

But as global timber prices reach historical levels, her warning is fading. This is good news for exporters and bad news for local factories that have to pay international prices for local timber.

The Association of Wood Processors and Manufacturers claims that the New Zealand timber industry is not only highly dependent on exports, but also ignores the protectionism of trading partners. The association's chief executive John Tanner and chairman Brian Stanley claimed that China would subsidize the logs when the price of logs sold by Chinese processors and importers was lower than the original price.

Tanner said that this artificially increased the price of logs and violated World Trade Organization regulations. But New Zealand can't speak.

At present, the domestic demand for wood products in New Zealand is still high. At present, wood product manufacturers in New Zealand are trying their best to meet the needs of the New Zealand domestic market, avoiding excessively high shipping costs and making more profits.

The initial indication of price prices in the third quarter is that log prices have continued to rise, especially structural log prices. Although the current supply of logs is good, processing plants in some regions have expressed concerns about long-term supply. Worrying about excessive exports will lead to excessive logging.

At present, the domestic port cork log inventory is maintained at around 4 million cubic meters, and the port shipments are maintained at an average of 60,000 to 70,000 cubic meters per day.

In May, Caixin China's manufacturing PMI (Purchasing Managers Index) increased by 0.1 percentage point from the previous month to 52, the highest value since 2021, and the manufacturing industry maintained a good expansion trend. However, the prices of bulk commodities have already distort the market and increased the cost burden of enterprises.