Import Plywood From China

China has been a major plywood producer in the world since the year 2000. Being sold to more than 100 countries in the world, Chinese plywood has been the top choice for non-structural plywood and decorative plywood.

If you want to start to import plywood from China, you should know more about Chinese plywood in every detail.

Everything About Chinese Plywood

1. Plywood Industry in China
2. Chinese Plywood Price
3. Chinese Hardwood Plywood
4. Plywood From China Problems
5. Importing Plywood from China to U.S.
6. Importing Plywood from China to India
7. Plywood Import Process & Duty
8. Plywood HS Code
9. Ship Plywood From China

1. Plywood Industry in China

Chinese modern plywood industry started in 1993 with the first plywood factory near Shanghai city.

After 30 years of development, China now has the largest number of plywood mills in the world. Approximate 15200 plywood factories are operating in China as of 2020, according to an investigation of CNFPIA.

Plywood Production Hubs

The two biggest production city of Chinese plywood is Linyi and Pizhou. The two cities is located in Eastern China. Below is the plywood production capacity ranking of different provinces in China as of 2020.

Chinese Plywood Types

Factories in China are producing:

• hardwood faced plywood
• softwood plywood
• melamine boards
• formwork plywood
• decor plywood
• packaging plywood
• LVL
• container flooring plywood
• engineered flooring
• blockboard

Advantage of Chinese Plywood Industry

China doesn’t have the cheapest labour nor the best technology nor the cheapest timbers. But why it can be the worldwide hub of plywood? Because the most complete supply chain is available there. It is the largest producer of formaldehyde, which is a key element of adhesive.

China is the largest importer of tropical timber logs and veneers. Plywood factories can buy cheap hardwood veneers from local veneer mills. Poplar tree, a local plantation softwood, is the cheapest veneer available for making plywood. All this makes China the perfect place to produce cheap price wood panels.

2. Chinese Plywood Price

Poplar core plywood prices beat plywood made with any other wood veneer cores. Lower price doesn’t always mean lower quality. Poplar is lightweight and strong. It is widely used for packaging, furniture making and even formwork concrete pouring. It is a great alternative to pine.

A 1220*2440*18mm phenolic faced plyform is sold at 30 USD/Sheet in the U.S. while the same Chinese PSF plywood panel with poplar core is only sold at 20 USD/Sheet in China.

3. Chinese Hardwood Plywood

Hardwood plywood produced in China has very similar veneers faces. The main veneer faces used by Chinese factories are Red Oak, Black Walnut, Maple, Okoume, Pencil Cedar, Bintangor, Birch. Some of them are tropical hardwood and some of them are American hardwood or coniferous trees.

4. Plywood From China Problems

Chinese products’ reputation has been ruined by some sub-standard products made by short-sighted manufacturers. Many of them produce low-quality plyboard to win the price war. That is one of the reasons that the anti-dumping tax was raised on Chinese plywood.

Our knowledge and experience help to reduce the problems of products. Common problems customers face would be:

• Excessive voids in the core
• Veneer overlap
• Formaldehyde emission

These can be avoided with better veneers, high-quality bonding resins, and better manufacturing processes. See more at plywood manufacturing defects.

5. Importing Plywood from China to U.S.

Some Chinese plywood is under antidumping by the United States, Turkey, and South Korea. On December 28, 2017, the United States International Trade Commission has decided to put anti-dumping duty on Certain Hardwood Plywood Products From the People’s Republic of China. All hardwood and decorative plywood are included within the scope of this investigation with an anti-dumping tax rate of 183.36%. This order stopped a lot of Chinese plywood factories selling to the U.S. However, The scope of the investigation excludes certain coniferous plywood. To import plywood from China to the United States without extra tariff, you can contact our company for more details.

Canada joined the USA with anti-dumping plywood from China. On February 19, 2021, the Canadian International Trade Tribunal (CITT) made a finding that the subsidizing of the hardwood plywood originating exported from China has not caused injury to the Canadian plywood industry. See more at Canada anti-dumping Chinese plywood.

Canada has failed to put anti-dumping tariffs on imported plywood.

6. Importing Plywood from China to India

We are a major producer and exporter of Burma teak faced plywood. Burmese teak is a tropical hardwood tree species grown in India, Sri Lanka, Indonesia, Myanmar, northern Thailand, and northwestern Laos. The wood is used for boat building, exterior construction, veneer, furniture, carving, turnings, and other small wood projects. China is the largest exporter of teak veneered plywood.

7. Plywood Import Process & Duty

The procedure has no difference from normal products. Plywood exported from China doesn’t need fumigation because they are manufactured under hot pressure which is considered a stronger process than fumigation. Some countries like Australia/New Zealand/United States may need a declaration form to claim the container doesn’t contain any solid timber.

Check with your customs broker to determine the exact import duty of the cargo.

8. Plywood HS Code

4412 is the main harmonized system code for most Plywood. In practice, Chinese plywood exporters mostly use 44123300 or 4412330090 to declare all types of plywood at custom.

But that is not accurate.

• 4412330090: Veneer Plywood With Both Faces Coniferous Wood Veneer
• 4412390090: Veneer Plywood At Least One Face is Non-Conifer Wood Veneer
• 4412941090: Blockboard Core Plywood
• 4410120000: OSB Board
• 4410110000: Particle Board (Chipboard)
• 4411142900: Medium Density Fibreboard (MDF)

9. Ship Plywood From China

A majority of the Chinese plywood is exported with containers. Only a portion of plywood is exported with breakbulk cargo ship to areas like the Middle East, South America, and Europe.

However, many plywood producers are switching to breakbulk shipment because of the high cost of container freight since the covid-19 pandemic.