Active expansion of plywood market in the Middle East region
July 6, 2026, Riyadh - Under the framework of "Vision 2030", the Middle East is experiencing a construction boom driven by mega projects, which has opened up new growth frontiers for China's plywood industry. Faced with the challenge of increasing trade barriers in the European and American markets, Chinese companies are positioning the Middle East as the core to expand their market, seizing market share with high cost-effective products and green compliance strategies.
Saudi Arabia is the focus of Chinese companies' layout. In preparation for major events such as the 2030 World Expo and the 2034 Asian Games, Saudi Arabia plans to build 555000 new residential units. The market value of timber related products for "mega city" projects such as NEOM is expected to exceed 4.1 billion US dollars by 2029. The huge demand directly drives imports. Data shows that Saudi Arabia alone has an annual timber demand of billions of dollars, with Chinese plywood accounting for as much as 45% of its total imports. In 2024, China's exports of plywood to Saudi Arabia have reached 1.8 million cubic meters, and the imports of plywood from Dubai and Riyadh have doubled in the past year.
Market expansion is shifting from product output to deep industry cultivation. Recently, the wood industry cluster represented by Linyi has launched a systematic plan to go global to the Middle East, planning to establish processing and assembly bases and overseas warehouses in the United Arab Emirates or Saudi Arabia, and build a supply chain system of "Linyi production+Middle East assembly". At the same time, Middle Eastern architecture is shifting from traditional concrete structures to timber structures, with a surge in demand for formaldehyde free, fire-resistant and other functional boards, which is highly in line with the green transformation being carried out by Chinese enterprises.
