Recent trends in Japanese forest product imports

Abstract

日本の林産物輸入の動向は世界の林産物貿易に大きな影響を持つが、近年日本が輸入する木材の品目構成に顕著な変化が見られる。同時に日本への林産物輸出国の顔ぶれにも変化が見られる。本論文は日本の林産物輸入、特にパルプ・チップを除く木材の輸入における三つの変化、すなわち輸出国の多様化、加工度の高い製品輸入の増加、輸入材の用途の多様化を特定するとともに、それらを輸出国における利用可能な森林資源量の変化や日本国内の木材需要の動向と関連づけて説明する。

Japanese forest product imports have a significant influence on the world forest products trade. In recent days, there have appeared to some marked changes in the contents of the Japanese imports. Exporters to the Japanese market have also been changing. In the present paper, we identify three marked trends in the Japanese forest products import : the diversification of exporting countries, the increase in processed products import, and the diversification in imported timber use. Then these three trends are related to the underlying changes in the forest resource availability in exporting countires and in the Japanese demands.