Production by China's forestry industry in 2007 was estimated at 1.17 trillion yuan (160 billion U.S. dollars), up 9.85 percent from a year earlier, said Jia Zhibang, head of the State Forestry Administration (SFA), on Monday.

Jia predicted that the industry would generate 1.4 trillion yuan this year, which would put it ahead of the 2010 goal of 1.2 trillion yuan.

Lumber output for 2007 was estimated at 69.7 million cubic meters and that of fabricated boards totaled 73.7 million cubic meters.

Total foreign trade of forest products was 57 billion U.S. dollars.

Jia said that China had established a complete production chain in the forestry industry, which included products such as lumber, furniture and grown flowers from state-owned forestry companies, and sectors such as forestry tourism.

According to the China Green Times, published by the SFA, China is the top world producer of fabricated boards, wood flooring, carbon and furniture.

China planted 2.27 billion trees last year on 5.2 million hectares. Jia said the area of forest plantations in China was the highest in the world, accounting for almost a third of the world's total.

(Xinhua News Agency January 15, 2008)