BERLIN, Might 10 (Xinhua) — China remained the most important gross sales marketplace for uncooked timber from Germany in 2020 as round half, or 6.4 million cubic meters, of whole timber exports went to China, the Federal Statistical Workplace (Destatis) stated on Monday.
Germany’s uncooked timber exports to China have elevated considerably since 2015 when the share was solely round 10 p.c, in line with Destatis. Austria was the second largest vacation spot for uncooked timber from Germany final yr, with a share of round 19 p.c.
“The development increase throughout the coronavirus pandemic boosted the demand for timber as a constructing materials in Germany and overseas,” Destatis stated.
Germany exported a complete of 12.7 million cubic meters of uncooked timber price 845 million euros (1.03 billion U.S. {dollars}) final yr, in line with Destatis. By way of amount, this was a rise of 42.6 p.c year-on-year.
Rising worldwide demand was mirrored by “report wooden felling figures” in Germany. In line with Destatis, 80.4 million cubic meters of wooden have been minimize in German forests final yr, the very best stage since German reunification in 1990.
Broken timber and forests have been the primary cause for the report stage of wooden felling in Germany. In line with Destatis, wooden reducing as a consequence of insect infestation accounted for greater than half of the entire wooden harvest in 2020.
The annual report for 2020 on Germany’s forests printed by the Ministry of Meals and Agriculture discovered that the previous three years of droughts, large bark beetle infestations, storms and elevated forest fires had “precipitated large long-term harm to forests.”
The outcomes of final yr’s forest situation evaluation have been among the many worst because the first report in 1984. Solely 21 p.c of all timber in Germany confirmed no crown defoliation.