China, which is one of Malaysia’s biggest trading partners, will seek further trade and investment opportunities in the country in the area of oil palm and timber. This emerged during a press conference held jointly with the visiting Chinese president Hu Jintao.

China is fast becoming a major buyer of Malaysian sawnwood, plywood and logs and forecasts are for its economy to grow by more than 9% in 2010 driven by growing domestic consumption and exports.

Expectations are high for increased wood consumption following the government planned low-cost housing programme. This aims to provide 7.5 million homes to low-income urban households from 2009 to 2011.