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China to boost timber imports

SHANGHAI: China is expected to increase timber imports this year due to its ban on logging, the China Daily Business Weekly newspaper said on Sunday.

Timber imports are likely to rise 12 percent this year from last year, the newspaper quoted a senior official of the National Timber Exchange Market in Beijing as saying.

China may have to import 10 million cubic metres of timber in 2000, it quoted industry officials as saying.

The newspaper said China imported an estimated 8.9 million cubic metres of timber last year, compared with seven million cubic metres in 1998.

China banned logging in some areas in 1998 after devastating floods, which were blamed on deforestation.-Reuters