One of China's premier woodworking exhibitions, WoodMac China opened yesterday and will run until Friday at the Intex Shanghai and ShanghaiMart.

Proclaimed by the organizers as "the biggest show in the best market," WoodMac China 2001, which is supported by China's National Forestry Bureau, has attracted more than 350 companies from 24 countries and regions, including official national pavilions from China, Australia, Belgium, Finland, Gabon, Germany, Italy and the United States.

The fair provides foreign companies with an important marketing instrument for tapping the Chinese market, said Shelley Xia, a spokeswoman for the organizers.

China has been one of the world's fastest-growing markets for woodworking machinery and furniture production. Its furniture production industry is growing at more than 10 percent a year, according to the organizers.

"The constant demand from its 30,000 furniture manufacturers for the latest machinery and high-quality components makes China a priority market that international suppliers cannot afford to miss," said Shen Dekun, manager of Samtech Machinery Co. Ltd., a dealer for Italian woodworking machinery.

"China's pending WTO entry is expected to create increasing opportunities for our company, as tariff rates will be cut and the market will be more open," said Alan Ho, general manager of Homag China Golden Field Ltd., a subsidiary of German woodworking machinery maker, the Homag Group.

The Chinese woodworking machinery market has been recovering from its most sluggish period between 1997 and 1998, following the Asian economic turmoil, said Ho. His company had rising sales in recent years and has promising prospects for 2001.

The biennial trade exhibition is held alongside FurniTek China 2001 for international suppliers of furniture, manufacturing components, machinery and furnishings, and WoodBuild China 2001, an event for machinery components and suppliers for timber construction.

"The shows cater to the rapid growth of China's building and construction sector which has driven the demand for supplies of lumber and timber construction projects," Xia said.

The massive construction programs, increasing 30 percent annually, and the growth of the furniture industry combine to create a huge demand for logs and timber products which cannot be met by domestic suppliers, according to industry officials.

The opportunities for foreign suppliers of machinery and raw materials are attractive particularly because of the logging ban imposed by the Chinese government and the absence of duties on wooden products and composites, as well as log imports.

(eastday 02/21/2001)