Official data indicate that the annual value of Mozambican exports of timber to China grew by 12.7 percent last year to US$35.5 million, Carta de Moçambique reports.

The newspaper, citing figures given by the Mozambican National Statistics Institute, says the annual value of such exports reached its peak of US$59.2 million in 2017.

The report says most of the exports go through the Mozambican ports of Nacala and Beira.

Greater use of information technology and more detailed inventory-taking would make the Mozambican timber industry more transparent, the report quotes a forester, Luís Nhamucho, as saying.

Olinda Cuna, a leading member of a non-government organisation, Livaningo, has called for better training of inspectors of the timber industry in Mozambique, Carta de Moçambique says.