Asia Pacific trade account - A growing deficit

The Asia Pacific region is, naturally, viewed as a most significant forested region and active participant in forest products production and trade. The above broad summary, however, reveals that the Asia Pacific region has been and continues to be a deficit forest products region whether assessed on a physical wood volume or value basis. Table 33 provides a summary of wood production and flows for the region as a whole relative to trade with the rest of the world. As noted earlier, the broadest measure of total roundwood shows that the Asia Pacific region has been a net importer, with net imports of 26.6 million cubic meters in 1980, a high of 34.1 million cubic meters in 1991, and a deficit of nearly 32.8 million cubic meters in 1994. A modest positive trade balance for tropical non-conifer industrial timber is more than offset by a deficit in volume for other non-conifer industrial timber as shown for the period 1991-94. Likewise, net trade in conifer industrial roundwood reveals a continuing volume deficit of almost 17.5 million cubic meters for 1992-94. Asia Pacific has maintained a positive but declining net trade balance for non-conifer sawnwood with the rest of the world,, yet has seen a growing net deficit in conifer sawnwood. While enjoying a net positive balance for non-conifer sawnwood of 1.5 million cubic meters in 1994, the region as a whole had a deficit in trade volume of conifer sawnwood of 9.7 million cubic meters.

Wood panel production has yielded a positive trade balance but one that has steadily fallen since 1985, from 4.5 million cubic meters to 712 thousand cubic meters in 1994. Wood pulp together with paper and paperboard accounts both show large and growing deficits. Wood pulp net trade was -8.1 million metric tons in 1994, with paper and paperboard in deficit by -7.1 million metric tons.

The Asia Pacific trade accounts for all forest products by value is shown in Table 34 by both sub-region and for the region as a whole. Detailed balances by country are included in Appendix 20. The combined Asia Pacific overall regional summary in Table 34 illustrates the trade relationship with the rest of the world, while the sub-regional balances illustrate the differences within the Asia Pacific Region. Overall, the Asia Pacific trade accounts with the rest of the world was in deficit by US$ 18.1 billion in 1994, an increase from US$ 5.9 billion in 1985.⁶ For the sub-regions, Oceania-S. Pacific has moved from a moderate deficit in trade (US$ -329 million) in 1990 to a positive trade balance of US$ 1 billion for 1994. Insular Asia, as the dominant exporter sub-region of Asia Pacific, had a growing surplus which increased from US$ 3 billion in 1985 to almost US$ 7 billion in 1994 after a high of US$ 7.9 billion in 1993. North Asia, on the other hand, has had a long term negative account for forest products trade, increasing from US$ 8.1 billion in 1985 to almost US$ 24.4 billion for 1994. Surging imports for North Asia have not been matched by growth in exports, either for the sub-region or from the rest of the Asia Pacific Region.

⁶ Due to technical difficulties, net value trade for North Asia and Insular Asia is not included in Table 34 at this time. Thus the 1980 Asia Pacific Total should be used and interpreted with caution.

Table 33. Summary: Production and Net Trade of Forest Products by Volume

Asia Pacific Region - Summary: Production and Net Trade of Forest Products by Volume (1000 CUM)
FAOSTAT				1980	1985	1990	1991	1992	1993	1994
Total Roundwood (1000 CUM)
	Production			891,265	976,498	1,065,824	1,083,502	1,103,470	1,117,072	1,131,816
	Net Trade			-26,602	-30,596	-32,080	-34,139	-29,756	-33,444	-32,788
	Apparent Consumption			917,867	1,007,094	1,097,904	1,117,641	1,133,226	1,150,516	1,164,604
Non-Conifer Roundwood (1000 CUM)
	Production			722,311	790,415	870,616	886,365	902,276	908,365	919,001
	Industrial Roundwood
		Production		157,475	161,406	175,882	178,176	180,547	172,920	169,823
		Net Trade
			Tropical				2,188	3,058	1,808	486
			Other				1,212	-965	-1,123	-1,083
	Apparent Consumption
		Industrial					174,776	178,454	172,235	170,420
		Other					708,189	721,729	735,445	749,178
		Total					882,965	900,183	907,680	919,598
Conifer Roundwood (1000 CUM)
	Production			168,955	186,085	195,210	197,138	201,195	208,708	212,816
	Industrial Roundwood
		Production		93,856	104,525	105,956	106,121	108,696	114,383	116,645
		Net Trade					-20,436	-17,733	-17,090	-17,480
		Apparent Consumption
			Industrial				126,557	126,429	131,473	134,125
			Other				91,017	92,499	94,325	96,171
			Total				217,574	218,928	225,798	230,296
Sawnwood - Non-Conifer (1000 CUM)
	Production			44,641	49,135	52,928	52,710	51,449	52,065	51,033
	Net Trade			3,813	3,133	1,121	949	1,382	354	1,535
	Apparent Consumption			40,828	46,002	51,807	51,761	50,067	51,711	49,498
Sawnwood-Conifer (1000 CUM)
	Production			50,527	50,787	51,854	47,242	46,161	49,925	49,537
	Net Trade			-4,681	-4,740	-7,894	-7,849	-8,218	-9,603	-9,663
	Apparent Consumption			55,208	55,527	59,748	55,091	54,379	59,528	59,200
Wood Panels (1000 CUM)
	Production			19,453	22,299	29,093	34,144	40,418	44,192	50,659
	Net Trade			2,926	4,484	2,942	2,641	2,497	1,621	712
	Apparent Consumption			16,527	17,815	26,151	31,503	37,921	42,571	49,947
Wood Pulp (1000 MT)
	Production			14,370	15,260	18,977	19,687	19,564	19,749	20,149
	Net Trade			-3,118	-3,926	-4,891	-5,627	-6,291	-6,830	-8,124
	Apparent Consumption			17,488	19,186	23,868	25,314	25,855	26,579	28,273
Paper & Paperboard (1,000 MT)
	Production			31,008	39,554	58,391	61,912	64,408	69,078	74,513
	Net Trade			-2,514	-3,317	-4,091	-3,981	-5,221	-5,796	-7,051
	Apparent Consumption			33,522	42,871	62,482	65,893	69,629	74,874	81,564

Table 34. Summary: Total Forest Products Trade by Region (Value)

Asia Pacific - Summary: Total Forest Products Trade by Region (MLN US$)
		1980	1985	1990	1991	1992	1993	1994
South Asia Region		0	0	0	0	0	0	0
	Imports	327	372	757	782	843	482	618
	Exports	52	25	52	58	48	20	42
	Net Trade	-275	-347	-705	-724	-795	-462	-576
Continental Asia Region		0	0	0	0	0	0	0
	Import	222	269	1018	1183	1398	1417	1686
	Export	158	178	411	717	729	767	675
	Net Trade	-64	-91	-607	-466	-669	-650	-1011
North Asia Region		0	0	0	0	0	0	0
	Import	0	9559	19989	21351	22931	26697	28943
	Export	0	1459	3480	4111	4716	4197	4559
	Net Trade	0	-8100	-16509	-17240	-18215	-22500	-24384
Insular Asia Region		0	0	0	0	0	0	0
	Import	0	878	1961	2169	2472	2087	2884
	Export	0	3913	7107	7793	8607	10026	9802
	Net Trade	0	3035	5146	5624	6135	7939	6918
Oceania Region		0	0	0	0	0	0	0
	Import	876	978	1694	1452	1556	1650	1856
	Export	739	612	1365	1637	1847	2373	2856
	Net Trade	-137	-366	-329	185	291	723	1000
Asia-Pacific Total
	Import	1425	12056	25419	26937	29200	32333	35987
	Export	949	6187	12415	14316	15947	17383	17934
	Net Trade	-476	-5869	-13004	-12621	-13253	-14950	-18053