ITTO has released the Biennial Review and Assessment of the World Timber Situation 2015–2016, giving insights into developments and trends in the global timber sector and international timber markets. The Review reports on production, trade and prices for primary wood products (industrial roundwood, sawnwood, veneer and plywood); trade and prices for secondary processed wood products (SPWPs); major traded tropical wood species; and directions of trade for primary tropical wood products.

Data from the Review are included in the ITTO’s online statistical database, updating it for the period 1990–2016 and making it a formidable tool for analyzing the evolution of, and long-term trends in, the trade of tropical timber and primary tropical timber products, as well as important shifts in timber production and further processing.

The latest edition of the Review features a comprehensive case study on the plywood industry in China[1], which has become one of the world’s biggest plywood producers. The case study describes the impacts of China in the supply of raw materials globally, as well as improvements in the efficiency of plywood production and domestic shifts in plywood end uses.

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