A Decade of Transformation in the Custom Home Furnishings Industry: China’s Particleboard Has Shifted from Import Dependence to Export-Driven Growth

2026-08-14 Source: China Wood Industry Network News Department

2016 was widely recognized by the industry as the inaugural year of the custom home‑furnishing sector, and to this day, it has already traversed a decade of development.

Over the past decade, listed companies in the custom home furnishings sector have experienced explosive growth, with the industry’s scale continuing to expand. As a custom… Cabinet , the core material of the wardrobe, Particleboard Market demand has risen in tandem, making it an indispensable and pivotal link in the home‑furnishings industry chain.

As industry cycles evolve and the market environment shifts, the custom‑home furnishings sector has entered a phase of adjustment characterized by slowing growth and mounting earnings pressures. In the first half of this year, declining performance—and even losses—remained widespread across the industry. By contrast, the particleboard sector has undergone a transformative industrial upgrade; the most striking change has been a radical reshaping of its import‑export dynamics, culminating in a historic reversal: domestic substitution taking hold and overseas exports surging.

A Decade of Data Review: From Import Dependence to an Export Comeback

In the early stages of the custom‑home‑furnishings industry, domestic production capacity for high‑quality, highly stable particleboard was insufficient. Between 2016 and 2017, a sharp surge in domestic demand for custom furniture drove a steady increase in particleboard imports, with import volumes rising from 587,000 tonnes to 711,100 tonnes—and in 2017, imports exceeded 700,000 tonnes for the first time. From 2018 to 2019, as domestic panel‑production capacity gradually expanded, import demand eased slightly.

In 2020, China’s production of particleboard, Plywood More than 150 wood and paper products have had their provisional import tariff rates reduced, from around 5.3% to approximately 3.2%. In addition, amid the impact of the second wave of the pandemic, the “stay-at-home economy” gained momentum overseas, boosting demand for furniture. Chinese-made furniture was snapped up by foreign markets, driving annual particleboard imports back up to 771,800 tonnes—nearly the highest level in the past decade. Over the following four years, import volumes remained relatively stable, fluctuating slightly within a range of 730,000 to 770,000 tonnes.

2025 marked a pivotal turning point for China’s particleboard import market, with annual imports plunging to 594,900 tonnes—the largest year-on-year decline in nearly a decade. This sharp drop can be attributed, on the one hand, to the maturation of China’s particleboard industry, which has steadily expanded large-scale, high‑quality production capacity, effectively substituting for imported particleboard. On the other hand, weak overall demand and a slowdown in growth within the downstream custom‑furniture sector have further narrowed the market space for particleboard imports.

Unlike the import market, which first expanded and then stabilized before contracting year by year, China’s particleboard export market has undergone a leap‑frog development, moving from a period of stagnation at low levels to explosive growth.

From 2016 to 2020, China’s particleboard exports remained within the range of 190,000 to 250,000 tonnes, exhibiting steady overall growth.

In 2021, China’s particleboard exports achieved a historic breakthrough, with export volume surging from 245,600 tonnes in 2020 to 573,500 tonnes, surpassing the 500,000‑tonne mark for the first time. The global pandemic was a key driver of this sharp export increase: during the pandemic, overseas panel manufacturers operated at significantly reduced capacity, while restrictions on residential mobility prompted many households to embark on home‑renovation and refurbishment projects, substantially expanding demand for particleboard and creating exceptional market opportunities for Chinese exports. In 2022, as the pandemic‑related tailwinds faded, the particleboard export market experienced a temporary pullback.

Since 2023, China’s particleboard industry has established distinct advantages in product quality and production capacity, driving a rapid recovery in the export market. In 2024 and 2025, particleboard exports posted consecutive years of robust growth, with year-on-year increases of 34.40% and 78.87%, respectively. By 2025, export volume reached a record high of 945,500 tonnes, surpassing imports for the first time and marking an all-time peak.

Foundation of the Industry: Independent Technological Breakthroughs and Iterative Capacity Upgrades

The reversal of the ten-year trend in the international trade landscape for particleboard is precisely the inevitable outcome of continuous technological breakthroughs and ongoing industrial upgrading within China.

In 2010, Baoyuan Wood Industry invested RMB 530 million to introduce German production lines, establishing Asia’s first continuous flat‑press oriented strand board (OSB) line with an annual capacity of 220,000 cubic meters, thus ushering in a new era of large‑scale OSB development in China. That same year, Yalian Machinery commissioned its first continuous flat‑press production line for engineered wood panels, breaking the European manufacturers’ monopoly in the Chinese market and initiating the domestic substitution of high‑end equipment for engineered‑wood panel production lines.

In 2015, Luli Group pioneered the development of Finishable Oriented Strand Board (FOSB), overcoming the longstanding technical limitation that conventional oriented strand board could not be directly finished, thereby significantly advancing technological progress in the particleboard industry.

Luli unveils a brand-new home furnishings showroom in Dubai.

With continuous advancements in manufacturing processes and production equipment, the number of companies entering the market has steadily increased, driving a dual leap in both capacity and quality within China’s particleboard industry. In 2023, total particleboard production capacity officially surpassed Fiberboard The industry has risen to become the second-largest type of man-made board in China.

Particleboard capacity expansion peaked in 2024. According to incomplete data from China Wood Industry Network, 33 new particleboard production lines were commissioned domestically in 2024, boosting capacity by 14.55 million m³ at once. In 2025, China added 12 more particleboard production lines, with a combined additional capacity of 5.05 million m³.

Xiangsheng Co., Ltd. showcases its products at the Dubai International Wood Show.

Rapid capacity expansion has reshaped the industry’s supply‑demand dynamics, bringing the issue of overcapacity into sharp focus. Expanding into overseas markets and promoting international sales have become one of the key strategic levers for domestic particleboard manufacturers to break through developmental bottlenecks and address excess capacity.

Looking back over the past decade, China’s particleboard industry has surged ahead, riding the wave of the custom‑home‑furnishings boom and experiencing rapid growth. It has transitioned from a follower to a competitive market player, entering a new phase of stock‑based competition characterized by quality upgrades and global brand expansion. We are confident that an increasing number of particleboard companies will anchor themselves in the domestic market, strengthen their core competencies, steadily engage in international competition, capture greater market share worldwide, and continuously enhance the influence of Chinese wood‑based panels on the global stage.

The above information is provided by China Wood Industry Network. Disclaimer: All content marked with a source attribution is either a reprinted article or posted by corporate users; this website reproduces such materials solely for the purpose of disseminating additional information. If any reprinted articles or images raise copyright concerns, please contact the authors for removal. Furthermore, with respect to user comments and other information, this website does not necessarily endorse their views nor verify the authenticity of their content.

Editor: Taizi