In November 2020, the fundamentals of China's economic recovery expanded. The purchasing manager index (PMI) of China's manufacturing industry was 52.1%, up 0.7 percentage points compared with the previous month, reaching the highest level in the year, and operating at 51% or above for five consecutive months. The economic recovery momentum has made steady progress. In November, driven by domestic demand, domestic orders of wood production and manufacturing industry gradually recovered, the situation of production decline was eased, and the enthusiasm of enterprises to purchase raw materials increased, but the export was still weak. The GGSC-CN comprehensive index for November registered 53.3% (55.6% for last November and 52.5% for November 2018), an increase of 9.2 percentage points from the previous month, back to  the expand trend. It shows that the operation of the superior forest products enterprises represented by GGSC-CN  index expand from last month. See Figure 1 for more details.

                                           Figure 1 GGSC-CN index trend from December 2019 to November 2020

Challenges

Ø  Early warning mechanism of raw materials needs to be established.

Ø  Poor quality of logs results in shortage of good raw materials procurement.

Ø  Affected by Covid-19 and environmental protection supervision, the profit margin of raw material processing plants is reduced, and the output is reduced, so it is difficult to find imported containers.

     Products in short supply

 Black locust, Thermo Wood, Oak bark, Teak

     Commodity of which the price has been increased

Black locust, Taun, Decorative paper, OKAN, Dahoma, Teak, Oak bark, Oak veneer, Formaldehyde, Urea

     Commodity of which the price has been decreased

Oak, Teak

As for the GGSC-CN  index, in November 2020, four out of five sub-indexes of GGSC-CN index rose and one flat.

The production index registered 50.0%, an increase of 16.7 percentage points from the previous month. It shows that the production of superior forest products enterprises represented by GGSC CN has  is almost same as last month.

The new order index registered 58.3%, an increase of 16.7 percentage points from the previous month, reflecting the ability of enterprises to obtain orders is better than that of last month. Among them, the new export order index reflecting international trade registered 41.7%, a decrease of 8.3 percentage points from the previous month,, showing that orders from abroad this month is decreased in November from last month.

The main raw material inventory index registered 41.7%, a decrease of 16.7 percentage points  from the previous month. It shows that the raw material inventory of the superior forest products enterprises is decreased in November from last month.

The employment index registered 58.3%, an increase of 8.3 percentage points  from the previous month. It shows that the employment of the superior forest products enterprises is increased in November from last month.

The supplier delivery time index was 50.0%, same as the previous month. It indicates that the supply time of raw material suppliers of the superior forest product enterprises is almost same as last month.