The Global Timber Index (GTI) Report for May 2024 revealed that the overall performance of global timber market was relatively sluggish this month, with the GTI comprehensive indexes for Thailand, Mexico, China, Indonesia, Republic of the Congo, Brazil, Gabon, and Malaysia all below the critical value of 50%, registering 43.1%, 42.5%, 42.2%, 42.1%, 40.7%, 37.9%, 37.2%, and 30.1%, respectively.

This month, Indonesia's timber market had shown relatively strong upward momentum with increases in areas such as harvesting, export orders, purchase volume of raw materials, and purchase prices of raw materials, when compared to the previous month. In Thailand, the volume of export orders increased while the domestic demand remained insufficient. In Gabon, Republic of the Congo, and Mexico, the downward trend in harvesting eased. In China, the timber market was currently in the off-season with a decline in both orders and production, while some GTI enterprises still faced the problem of overstocking.

In the face of challenges from production and operations, enterprises in GTI pilot countries voiced various policy-related demands in the hope of boosting the market. For example, Indonesian enterprises voiced a need to revise regulations that limit the maximum cross-sectional area of exportable wood products, with a view to supporting the sustainability of the upstream and downstream sectors. Thai enterprises want to raise consumer awareness of the value and benefits of wood and wood products. Mexican enterprises recommended cooperation with various government agencies to improve the forestry service management system. Chinese enterprises not only expressed a desire to increase trade fairs for wood products, but also proposed that businesses could increase the proportion of exports and shift from the domestic market to the Southeast Asian market.

On 4 May, the eleventh session of the United Nations Forum on Forests was held at its headquarters in New York, and the outcomes of the conference would be integrated into the new global sustainable development agenda to be adopted in September this year. The international community would formulate a new global sustainable development agenda this year, with the goal of eradicating poverty and achieving sustainable development, and the inclusion of forest policies into the new sustainable development agenda shows that the international community has a growing awareness of the key role of forests in poverty eradication and addressing climate change. At such an important moment in history, new solutions to support the legal and sustainable development of the timber sector are highly anticipated. 

GTI Report - May 2024.pdf