China's forestry output hit 1.9 trln yuan in H1

The output of China's forestry industry rose 34.5 percent year on year to 1.88 trillion yuan (305.2 billion U.S. dollars) in the first half of 2013, the State Forestry Administration (SFA) announced Wednesday.

China's forestry imports and exports hit 61.8 billion U.S. dollars from January to June, up 7 percent from the same period last year, according to SFA data.

China's forestry output is expected to hit 4.5 trillion yuan in 2013 and 9 trillion yuan in 2020, according to an SFA forecast issued in late 2012.

Zhao Shucong, head of the SFA, the country's top wildlife and forestry agency, said during a work conference that the SFA will focus its future work on boosting the scale of the forestry industry as well as further protecting endangered species.

The SFA is also mulling measures to effectively protect the country's wetland resources, Zhao said.

China's forest coverage totaled 195 million hectares, or 20.36 percent of the country's total area, as of the end of 2008. The government aims to expand the coverage to 23 percent by 2020.

In China, forests are defined as woods covering an area of more than 1 mu (about 667 square meters) with a crown density -- the amount of sunlight blocked by plant material -- at or above 20 percent, according to the SFA.