That's why Lo has allowed AHEC to use his warehouses in China to hold FAS-sponsored seminars to teach Chinese importers and end users about the lumber and wood grading systems of the United States. While the changes in China have benefited U.S. exporters, these same forces have helped other countries, too. Russia has done well. Germany's exports rose 440 percent between 1997 to 1998. This might be due to a strong U.S. dollar affecting price, but it is also because Chinese customers like European beech, which eastern European countries produce in abundance.
European beech is a really light colored wood, and consumers favored pale wood for years.
But at a trade show this year in Beijing, Chinese furniture designers told me they felt it is becoming too common, people could be getting tired of it. That trade show, attended by a record 508 participants, illustrates the strength of the growing Chinese wood market. In Europe, prices are locked in for a six-month period. If you are a furniture vendor or builder in China and demand goes up for a U.S. wood product, you may not be able to afford it. Plus, the very fact of constant price change may itself be a deterrent.