China explores the path to sustainable development of redwood culture

Chinese civilization is one of the oldest civilizations in the world, and Chinese furniture has a long history. As an important part of traditional Chinese furniture, mahogany furniture has always been favored by Chinese families. China has a long history of using mahogany to make high-end, precious furniture and handicrafts, and mahogany furniture with unique Chinese characteristics is both practical and culturally connotative.

Because the Chinese believe that mahogany has the red color that symbolizes "happiness", it was even once made into an imperial product. An owner who is about to move into a new home mentioned in an interview: "There are a lot of mahogany furniture in our old house, left by the older generation. I like its color and texture, and I also want to buy some mahogany for my new home." Furniture, hoping to add a bit of traditional culture to the home. "

In fact, during the Ming and Qing Dynasties, very few of China's redwoods were cut down. After the 1980s, China's demand for redwoods has increased day by day. Most of today's redwoods come from the countries in the lower reaches of the Mekong River and the last forests as far away as southern Africa. .

Driven by the "redwood complex" that represents cultural inheritance and status symbol, the demand for redwood has grown rapidly, and it once became a leading industry in the county economy. In 2010, the number of companies operating redwood furniture in Xianyou, Fujian, one of the three main production bases of classical redwood furniture in China, surged by 30% to 40%. Before 2020, the annual registration volume of redwood furniture-related companies basically remained above 4,000, but the data in recent years has declined. For example, in 2020, a total of 3,670 new companies were added, a year-on-year decrease of 18.7%. In the "2021 Research Report on the Development Status of Building Materials and Home Furnishing Market", among the categories with reduced formats, European and American furniture accounted for the largest proportion, accounting for 39.1%, followed by tiles and redwood furniture, both accounting for more than 30%. redwood logs are worth tens of thousands of dollars per cubic meter, so they are very attractive to illegal traders. From 2014 to the present, it has been a watershed in the development of the redwood market. As precious hardwood resources become increasingly scarce and environmental pressures intensify, China has strengthened the new forest law to combat illegal timber trade. As a high-end cultural product, the raw materials of redwood furniture mainly rely on imports, so the redwood furniture industry is a resource-based industry. With the expansion of international redwood trade, international redwood trade policies have continued to tighten in recent years. Various redwood producing areas have successively introduced various policies to restrict the development and trade of redwood resources, especially Southeast Asian and African countries. The continued increase in the number of controlled redwood species has led to a sharp increase in the import cost of redwood. The instability of raw material prices is the primary factor affecting the development and growth of redwood furniture companies, which also restricts the overall development of the industry. Various reasons have led to fluctuations in redwood prices, bubble bursts, and the redwood market has turned from hot to cold. Under the influence of China's import policies and international conventions, the import volume has gradually decreased, so the price of raw materials has soared, and some companies have been forced to withdraw from the market due to lack of materials and the spread of COVID-19.

Today's China has begun to pay more attention to the protection of the natural environment. In China's path to implementing the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the call for protecting the environment and protecting forests is growing.

A new vision for sustainable redwood furniture

The traditional Chinese furniture style is constantly evolving, and the new Chinese furniture is a fusion of traditional Chinese style and modern aesthetics. Traditional Chinese style has developed over thousands of years and is very oriental and mysterious, while the new Chinese style abandons the complex core and instead adds simplicity and elegance. Not only has the style changed, but the materials have also changed.

Today's furniture is expected to be made of environmentally friendly materials that are non-toxic, non-polluting, and easily recyclable and reused. These expectations have led to a gradual increase in demand for sustainable mahogany furniture designed to match contemporary aesthetics. As the demand for sustainable wood furniture rises, the supply of sustainable wood also needs to keep up. In the Lower Mekong region, a UN-led initiative is committed to "greening" the supply chain of wood products and promoting sustainable forest trade with China.

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