China's foreign trade of forest products reached US$27.2 billion in the first half of this year, up 35.3 percent over the same period in 2006, the State Forestry Administration (SFA) said on Wednesday.

Exports of forest products went up 41 percent to US$15.5 billion and imports rose 28 percent to US$11.7 billion, said Cao Qingyao, SFA spokesman.

Cao said the imports were mainly primary products, such as paper pulp, and the exports were high value-added or labor-intensive materials with competitive advantages, adding "China's forest products foreign trade structure is improving."

The Chinese government has lowered export tax rebates on primary wood products like furniture and imposed extra tariffs on exports of wooden flooring and disposable chopsticks.