Page 31 - FDMAsia Sep/Oct 2026

FOCUS 29
www.fdmasia.com | FDM ASIA SEP/OCT 2026

prospects and whether housing is still the safest place to plywood manufacturers in China, distributed in 27 provinces
store family wealth. and municipalities, about 500 fewer than the end of 2023.
The fibreboard industry has also shown further contraction in
Revised "green" standards on furniture the number of enterprises, production lines and total capacity,
Two "green" standards on furniture, the "Green Product and its production and sales have gradually become balanced.
Evaluation Standard for Furniture" and the "Green Design and In the first half of 2024, two fibreboard production lines

Evaluation Standards for Furniture”, have been revised and (including one continuous flat pressing line) will be built and
released by the State Administration for Market Regulation put into operation, adding 420,000 cubic metres of capacity
(State Standards Committee). per year.
The Green Product Evaluation Standard for Furniture China now has 264 fibreboard production enterprises and
stipulates the evaluation requirements of furniture products, 292 fibreboard production lines.
and the revision refines the relevant indicators for "energy"
and "low carbon", optimising the requirements of resources, `Wood Loan’ supports Guangxi forestry industry
environment and quality attributes. With its forestry sector facing difficulties raising finance, high
The Green Design and Evaluation Standards for Furniture borrowing costs and slow payments, the government of Laibin

clarify the terms and definitions of furniture green design, and city in Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region worked with the
specify the evaluation objectives, principles and requirements. local financial supervision bureau to launch the ‘Laibin Wood
The revision focuses on the greening of the design stage Loan’ in 2021.
and introduces requirements for full life cycle evaluation, from Recently, Shilong town in Xiangzhou County of the
selection of raw materials, production, sales, and use, to Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region also implemented a
recycling at end-of-life. wood loan scheme, thereby greatly reducing companies’
financing costs.

China’s particleboard production continues to rise The 'Laibin Wood Loan’ has been taken up by more
Wood-based panel industry data from the Industrial Development than 1,400 wood processing enterprises in the city, and also
Planning Institute under the National Forestry and Grassland extends to forest planting, furniture production, integration of
Administration shows that in the first half of 2024, China's forest pulp and paper and other related industry enterprises.
particleboard industry grew further in terms of the number of It is the first financial product for both upstream and
enterprises and total production capacity. downstream industry chains of the wood processing industry
In the first half of 2024, 24 particleboard production lines in the region.
(including 16 continuous flat pressing lines) were built and The number of enterprises in the wood processing industry
put into operation nationwide, creating additional production in Laibin city increased from 54 to 208 at the end of the 13th

capacity of 7.6 million cubic metre per year. Five-Year Plan, with 40 more established each year.
China now has 311 particleboard production enterprises and Since the implementation of the `Laibin Wood Loan’, the
332 particleboard production lines. A further 43 particleboard city has issued a total of RMB4.261 billion of loans, benefiting
production lines are under construction in the country. 790 market entities, with a weighted average interest rate of
In contrast, the plywood industry shows a decline in the about 2.53 percent of loans, directly reducing financing cost
number of enterprises and total production capacity. of borrowers by RMB101 million. FDM
In the first half of 2024, there were a total of around 6,900 ENQUIRY NO. 5101