Prince George, BC – New Zealand has become the world's largest exporter of softwood logs, with shipments accounting for over 20% of the global trade, according to estimates by Wood Resource Quarterly.

Not only have the log exports increased, they have doubled in the past five years  to a total of over 16-million cubic meters.

Despite the dramatic increase in saw logs leaving the country, the  number of manufacturing facilities in New Zealand's domestic log consumption has not changed much in the past 10-years.

China accounted for 72% of the total export volume of logs, followed by South Korea, India, and Japan.

In the fourthe quarter of 2013 as much as 57% of the timber harvested in new Zealand was exported in log form.

While the timber owners have benefited from the strong log export market, domestic sawmills have not seen the same surge in finished product.