WELLINGTON, Nov. 19 (Xinhua) -- New Zealand forestry and logging industry is facing lower prices for their products due to lower demand from China, while sheep and beef farmers are getting higher prices for their stock, the county’s statistics department Stats NZ said on Tuesday.
Trade data shows China is the largest consumer of New Zealand’s export logs with three billion NZ dollars (1.9 billion U.S. dollars) sent in 2019.
“The fall in log prices coincides with the U.S.-China trade dispute and reports of growing log stockpiles in China,” business prices manager Bryan Downes said in a statement.
Prices received for raw materials produced by the forestry and logging industry dropped in the September 2019 quarter by 9.1 percent due to low global demand for logs.
“The prices of logs for export dropped 21 percent in the September quarter, while prices in the domestic market were down 5.1 percent,” Downes said.
“Domestic and export log prices don’t always move in line because of factors such as exchange rates, differing log grades and types, and market demand -- for example, manufacturing activity can influence demand for timber pallets used for shipping goods,” he said.
In contrast, the prices received by sheep and beef farmers rose 7.6 percent due to higher prices paid by meat product manufacturers, according to Stats NZ.
“International demand for red meat has been rising, largely due to the African swine fever outbreak in China with reduced supplies of pork being substituted with alternative products.”
New Zealand consumers are also seeing meat prices increasing domestically, with bacon and ham prices rising by more than 20 percent for the year to October 2019, statistics showed.
