Nov 24, 2008. /Lesprom.com/. Growth in China’s wood trade has slowed this year to 16%, ITTO reported. Imports and exports were valued at $49.3 billion between January-September, a slowdown of 15.6% compared to a year ago. Imports grew by 21% to $21.5 billion and exports rose 13% to $27.8 billion. China imported most of its 23 million cubic meters of logs from Russia (14.8 million cubic meters). Next biggest was Papua New Guinea (1.8 million cubic meters) and New Zealand (1.2 million cubic meters). Sawnwood imports totalled 5.2 million cubic meters and were worth $1.5 billion, while panel imports reached 234,500 cubic meters, valued at $135million. Chinese sawnwood exports totalled 547,000 cubic meters ($313 million) and plywood shipments fell 13% by volume to 5.9 million cubic meters. However, particleboard exports were up 35% by value to $35.4 million cubic meters.