The cooling of the imported softwood market is nothing new in the industry!
But whether the price trend of imported softwood has been formed in this round, and when will it continue, businessmen in the industry are still paying attention.
Radiata pine is the "head species" of softwood imported from China, and its every move has become the focus of many businesses.
Judging from the investigation and understanding of the Timber Kingdom reporters, although domestic timber merchants began to consciously reduce the replenishment of new orders as early as the end of the third quarter, the arrival of new orders and new goods in Hong Kong has also given the Chinese market, which is experiencing shrinking demand. Bringing obvious inventory pressure, the price of radiata pine logs also continued to decline.
According to the monitoring data of China Timber Price Index Network and Timber Kingdom, radiata pine logs have declined since mid-to-late October, and the market declined even more after November. At present, the price of A in radiata pine logs in the Guangdong market has been reported to 900 yuan/cubic meter, while Shandong Lanshan Port has reported 950 yuan/cubic meter, with a cumulative decline of more than 150 yuan/cubic meter.
In addition, in terms of spot inventory, Rizhao Lanshan Port, Guangdong Humen Port, East China Taicang Port and Xinminzhou are all facing greater inventory pressure. Take Lanshan Port as an example. It is understood that, affected by the industrial upgrading of Taicang, which is an advantageous shipping location, Lanshan Port has begun to take over a portion of the Taicang market. Therefore, as far as the national market of radiata pine logs is concerned, the market influence of Lanshan Port is also obvious.
Some industry sources estimate that the current inventory of radiata pine logs at Lanshan Port is at least 1.5 million cubic meters, which does not include the new cargo that will arrive at the port. Therefore, local merchants said that at present, timber merchants are generally facing the pressure of clearing inventory, and the market operation pressure is relatively large.
The same is true for Xinminzhou Port. Judging from the latest statistics, after entering November, the inventory of radiata pine logs in Xinminzhou has generally remained at 400,000-420,000/m3, an increase of about 15% over the previous month. As of November 18, the inventory of radiata pine logs in Xinminzhou Port was 421,470 cubic meters, and the market continued to increase.
Therefore, in view of the current market situation, most people in the industry believe that the performance of radiata pine logs in the fourth quarter will not be too satisfactory. On the one hand, the high-priced timber of some timber merchants has not been fully digested, and the comprehensive cost of these timber merchants may not be as low as estimated by the outside world; In addition, the sales in the domestic timber market in the fourth quarter of this year were characterized by a sluggish peak season, and the sales of various timber merchants were generally unsatisfactory.