NZ and China sign forestry cooperation arrangement

An arrangement signed by New Zealand and China this week paves the way for future forestry cooperation and boosting bilateral trade, NZ Forestry Minister Shane Jones says. The arrangement was signed on Monday in Wellington by Shane Jones and Mr Zhang Jianlong, the Administrator of China’s National Forestry and Grasslands Administration. 

“The updated arrangement supports and strengthens links between government, industry and research institutes in New Zealand and China. It provides a framework to address matters such as sustainability, wood processing and utilisation, and trade and investment,” Shane Jones said. 

“The forestry sector is an important and growing part of our bilateral trade with China, with export revenue topping NZ$3.2 billion in the year ending 2018. Much of this growth has come from increased Chinese demand for New Zealand forestry products, supporting both continued high prices and record export volumes”. 

“A number of Chinese companies choose to use wood sourced from New Zealand for their manufacturing, and I’m keen to see how we can grow the relationship further, especially for our respective wood processing industries”. 

“With my Chinese counterpart, I have agreed that officials will cooperate to encourage increased trade, including in value-added wood products. I’m pleased to announce that we will hold talks in China later this year, which industry will be invited to, to promote government-to-government and industry-to-industry collaboration”. 

“Ensuring an end-to-end value chain for our logs and forest products, along with our relationships with trading partners, including China, are an important part of achieving these aspirations,” Shane Jones said. ​