In August 2021, China's PMI index declined to 50.1%, a decrease of 0.5 percentage points from the previous month,indicating that the economy continued to pick up and the growth rate slowed down. This month, the wood production and manufacturing industry was in the traditional off-season, domestic and international market demand has dropped, and manufacturing has continued to be in a tight state, but the price of raw materials is still rising, the inventory of raw materials has continued to decline, and the cost pressure of the industry has increased.

The GGSC-CN comprehensive index for August registered 43.0% (47.1% for last  August and  42.1% for August 2019), a decrease of 4.7 percentage points from the previous month, and was below the critical value of 50% for two months. It shows that the operation of the superior forest products enterprises represented by GGSC-CN  index shrink from last month. See Figure 1 for more details.

Figure 1 GGSC-CN index trend from September 2020 to August  2021

Challenges

Ø labor shortage

Ø it is difficult to purchase wood and the supply of imported raw materials is unstable

Ø there are few solid wood raw materials to meet demand.

Ø Price of  raw materials is rising, and this situation is becoming normal.

Ø the price of ebony and pine core board has increased seriously

Products in short supply

Diperyx ,merbau,teak, Zingana;Chemical raw materials, Sven paint

Commodity of which the price has been increased

The price of  South American materials generally rose , such as Diperyx,Tauari.

Merbau,teak, oak veneer, formaldehyde, fiberboard, paper, paraffin, waterproof agent, melamine

Commodity of which the price has been decreased

Chinese fir log, pine core board, urea

As for the GGSC-CN  index, in August  2021,four out of five sub-indexes of GGSC-CN fall and one  increase.

The production index registered 40.9%, a decrease of 5.2 percentage points from the previous month, and below 50% for two months. It shows that the production of superior forest products enterprises represented by GGSC CN is worse than that of last month.

The new order index registered 40.9%, a decrease of 9.1 percentage points from the previous month, reflecting the ability of enterprises to obtain orders is worse than last month.Among them, the new export order index reflecting international trade registered 22.7%, a decrease of 0.4 percentage points from the previous month,, showing that orders from abroad this month is decreased from last month.

The main raw material inventory index registered 45.5%, an increase of 0.7 percentage points  from the previous month. It shows that the raw material inventory of the superior forest products enterprises is decreased in August from last month.

The employment index registered 45.5%, an decrease of 8.4 percentage points  from the previous month. It shows that the employment of the superior forest products enterprises is  much less than that of last month.

The supplier delivery time index was 45.5%, an increase of 7.0 percentage points from the previous month. It indicates that the supply time of raw material suppliers of the superior forest product enterprises is much more slowly than last month.