From the Largest Production Base to an Industrial Highland: Guangxi's Artificial Board Industry Has Great Potential

2025-08-20 Source: China Wood Network News Department

In the national artificial board industry map, Guangxi is undoubtedly the most dynamic and focused core sector at present. In recent years, Guangxi's artificial board industry has developed rapidly, becoming the nation's leading "board warehouse," but serious internal competition and the bottleneck of being "large but not strong" have gradually emerged. China Wood Network exclusively interviewed Wan Yejing, President of Guangxi Wood Industry Association, to explore the development secrets and breakthrough paths of Guangxi's artificial board industry.

Wan Yejing, President of Guangxi Wood Industry Association

Under the Halo: Serious Internal Competition, Large but Not Strong

When discussing why Guangxi's artificial board industry has developed so rapidly, Wan Yejing said, "On one hand, Guangxi has unique resource advantages, with a forest coverage rate as high as 62.55% and forest reserves of about 1 billion cubic meters; on the other hand, the autonomous region's party committee and government attach great importance to the development of the forestry industry, vigorously developing the wood processing industry based on forestry resource advantages."

With the support of these dual advantages, Guangxi's artificial board industry has achieved leapfrog growth—in 2024, the total output value of Guangxi's forestry and grass industry first broke through the trillion-yuan mark, reaching 1.05 trillion yuan; artificial board output remained the highest nationwide at 70.5 million cubic meters, and wood output led the country at 45 million cubic meters. In the first half of this year, the total output value of the forestry and grass industry in the region reached 549.5 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 24.26%; in the region's above-scale industries, the added value of wood processing increased by 12.1% year-on-year, achieving double-digit growth for five consecutive months.

However, beneath the halo of output expansion, the imbalance between production and sales and intensified internal competition have become undeniable facts.

"Last year nationwide Particleboard capacity was about more than 70 million cubic meters, with Guangxi nearly 9 million cubic meters, accounting for about 13% of the national total. This is equivalent to a new production line starting every week nationwide, while Guangxi adds a new production line every month." Wan Yejing used particleboard as an example to reveal the severe reality of overcapacity.

Overcapacity directly leads enterprises into a quagmire of low-price competition, with operating pressure continuously rising. As Guangxi's first main board listed forestry enterprise and one of the most advanced integrated forestry panel companies in China, Fenglin Group's sales and prices both declined year-on-year in the first half of this year, with a net loss of 46.6 million yuan for the first time, becoming a microcosm of the industry's difficulties.

The "large but not strong" characteristic of Guangxi's artificial board industry is also reflected in the unbalanced industrial structure: serious product homogenization, a high proportion of mid-to-low-end products, insufficient supply of terminal products, and scarcity of high value-added products. "Although the total volume of Guangxi's artificial boards has increased, the development of terminal products is obviously lagging. The total forestry output value in the region has exceeded one trillion yuan, but the furniture output value is only about 30 billion yuan. Based on matching, the furniture output value should be at least around 200 billion yuan," Wan Yejing explained.

Breakthrough Path: Government and Enterprises Join Hands, Defend and Attack Strategically

Facing the development difficulties of the artificial board industry, Guangxi set a trillion-yuan forestry industry target in 2023, using a three-year action plan as a lever. Through measures such as extending, supplementing, and strengthening the industrial chain, empowering policy services, and precise investment promotion, with industrial park clusters as the core engine, it introduced supporting enterprises such as paint, veneer, and hardware accessories, promoted downstream high-end furniture and home products like whole-house custom furniture, wooden doors, and wooden floors, accelerating transformation toward high-end green home furnishings, and significantly improving processing technology and equipment levels in the furniture industry.

Guigang (Qintang) International Green Home Industry Park

Currently, Guangxi has established 45 forestry industrial parks led by high-end green home furnishings, covering more than 40% of counties and districts, with over 3,000 enterprises in the parks contributing an industrial output value of 180 billion yuan. It has initially formed a full industry chain from raw materials—artificial board bases—to high-end green home furnishings, producing more than 150 artificial board products in 10 major series, promoting the upgrade of board processing toward "high-end, intelligent, and green," achieving optimization and upgrading of the entire industry chain.

At the same time, local Guangxi enterprises face challenges head-on, going all out to actively "seek breakthroughs internally and expand markets externally."

For example, Xingyouteng innovatively launched the "Building Materials Supermarket" model, transforming from single-category sales to a multi-variety one-stop procurement platform, accurately connecting artificial board and customized home furnishing demands. "This model is like the 'Sam's Club' of building materials, meeting consumers' diverse needs while promoting deep integration of upstream base materials and downstream terminal furniture, which is of great significance to improving the industrial chain," Wan Yejing said.

Against the backdrop of fierce domestic market competition, "going global" has become an important path for Guangxi board enterprises to break through. The booming infrastructure demand in Southeast Asia and the home consumption potential released in the Middle East have opened broad development space for Guangxi's artificial board industry.

"Sanwei Group's products have entered the European, Middle Eastern, and Southeast Asian markets; Zhuangxiang's incense cedar ecological board is exported to countries such as Egypt, France, and the Netherlands. In the first half of the year, we organized enterprises to participate in exhibitions and exchanges in Uzbekistan, and in the second half, we will lead enterprises to the Middle East for display and promotion," Wan Yejing introduced. Relying on the "Belt and Road" initiative and geographical advantages, Guangxi's artificial board enterprises are actively exploring emerging markets in Southeast Asia, the Middle East, and Africa.

From resource endowment to scale advantages, Guangxi's artificial board industry has achieved a breakthrough in "quantity." Now, driven by government guidance, enterprise innovation, and overseas expansion, this nation's largest artificial board production base is accelerating steadily toward becoming an "industry highland that is both large and strong," inevitably ushering in a leap in "quality"!

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