全球智库信息集成服务系统

The timber trade from Russia to China is steadily increasing, and many scholars are convinced that this trend will continue. China's national statistics do not clearly illustrate timber flows, being limited to national trade figures. In this paper, the authors analyze recent trends in the Russia-China timber trade, based on official data sources, with the aim of clearly ascertaining recent timber flows at customs and gateway points. The authors conclude the analysis with several key findings-the trade in logs has increased rapidly in recent years; current land-border trade regulations and conditions are favorable for raw log imports into China; and three major timber trade gateway routes and other smaller emerging border gateways (especially in China's Heilongjiang Province) can be identified. The possible underlying causes of the rapid increase of the log trade between Russia and China are also discussed.