The Australian Forest Products Association (AFPA) welcomes the opportunity to make a submission on the opportunities and impacts of a potential Australia-Hong Kong Free Trade Agreement (AHK-FTA).
Each year our industry produces around 5.1 million m3 of sawn timber, 1.7 million m3 of wood-based panels, and more than 3.2 million tonnes of paper and paperboard products. Australia has an overall trade deficit in wood and paper products of approximately $2.4 billion per annum (2015/2016). Exports from Australia include finished wood and paper products, raw wood fibre (woodchip and logs) and recycled wood fibre (recovered paper) and conversely imports to Australia are predominately highly processed or manufactured wood and paper products.
Potential opportunities and impacts of an Australia-Hong Kong Free Trade Agreement (AHK-FTA)