But in China and other low-wage countries, people can't afford goods made from foreign lumber. They work the wood and send it back to the States as furniture. Americans like their furnishings made out of familiar materials. A rubberwood dining room table just doesn't have the same appeal as an oak one, Artz said, so the Chinese sometimes import the wood. China grows some trees that are similar to American ones, but even when they have the same woods, they often have trouble getting them to the factories.
Forests are inland, near Mongolia.
Factory towns, such as Shenzhen, near Hong Kong, sit thousands of miles away on the country's eastern shoreline. Roads are often incomplete or not strong enough for hauling logs. It can be faster to ship them from Virginia. They employ enough workers to jam a small town. Production lines run as long as the building.