A construction industry crash in China is sending shockwaves through the timber trade in New Zealand. China has been by far the largest importer of New Zealand logs, 92% in the year to June last year. However, Rotorua-based forestry consultant Jeff Tombleson said China had been “throttling back” on the quantity taken since the country’s property market started contracting in 2021. Mega-infrastructure projects there, such as new cities, ports and railways, were nearing completion, he said. …Tombleson said he hadn’t witnessed such a “negative outlook” for the industry in his 50-year forestry career. …While China was not a huge market for sawn timber from New Zealand, [the sector] is “nervous” about their biggest trading partner – the United States. New Zealand Timber Industry Federation chief executive Jeff Ilott said proposed tariffs on exports of sawn timber from New Zealand to the US were not due to be introduced until later in the year.