China Developing Bamboo Industry to Ease Timber Shortage

　　China will strengthen its bamboo industry over the next 15 years in an effort to ease its timber shortfall, according to an official of the State Forestry Administration.

　　Lei Jiafu, director of the Afforestation Department of the administration, said at the '99 China Bamboo Culture Festival which closed here today that China will expand its bamboo plantation area by 1.2 million hectares in the next 15 years.

　　He said that the goal for the industry's output value is 30 billion yuan by the year 2015, when exports could reach one billion US dollars.

　　Lei called this a "bamboo for timber" strategy that is expected to be the country's principal means of solving the timber shortage following a comprehensive logging ban at areas along the upper reaches of the Yangtze and Yellow rivers to alleviate soil erosion, which involve 13 provinces and municipalities.

　　The country's timber shortfall now stands at 38 million cu. m. a year, and it will reach 43 million cu. m. by 2010, he said.

　　He also said that large amount of imports is not a solution because of surging prices and shrinking supply in the international timber market.

　　Officials from the International Network of Bamboo and Rattan affirmed China's "bamboo for timber" plan as the right decision, and said they expect bright market prospects for China's bamboo industry, which is the largest in the world with 4.2 million hectares of bamboo forest coverage.

　　Bamboo also will play a much more important role in construction and paper-making industries, where timber used to be considered indispensable.