Forestry investment has increased year by year. Since the foundation of New China, the investment in forestry has accumulated for a total of RMB 244.6 billion, including an investment of RMB 185.4 billion in silviculture and an investment of RMB 59.2 billion in forest industries. In recent years, especially since the start of implementations of the 6 major forestry programs in 1998, the forestry investment has been increased year after year, from RMB 2.461 billion in 1990 to RMB 41.187 billion in 2004, an average annual increase of 22.29%.

In 2004, the forestry investment in fixed assets continued to focus on the 6 major forestry programs and the total annual investment in the 6 major forestry programs reached RMB 35.102 billion, an increase of 5.12% compared to that in 2003, accounting for 85.23% of the total investment in fixed forestry assets of the year. The 6 major forestry programs has completed an accumulative investment of RMB 126.363 billion, accounting for 51.66% of the total investment in fixed forestry assets since the foundation of new China, of which RMB 108.885 billion were invested by the government, accounting for 86.17% of the total program investment. The natural forest protection program has completed an accumulative investment of RMB 44.894 billion, of which RMB 42.012 billion were invested by the government, accounting for 93.58% of the total; The land conversion program (excluding those in Beijing-Tianjin region) completed an accumulative investment of RMB 58.368 billion, of which RMB 53.368 billion were invested by the government, accounting for 91.43% of the total; The sandstorm source control program in Beijing-Tianjin region completed an accumulative investment of RMB 8.33 billion in forestry, in which the government invested RMB 6.807 billion, accounting for 81.72% of the total; the program of shelterbelt forest development in Three-North region, Yangtze River basin and other regions accumulated a total investment of RMB 12.045 billion, of which RMB 5.753 billion were invested by the government, accounting for 47.76% of the total; The wildlife protection and nature reserve development program completed an accumulative investment of RMB 15.70 billion, of which RMB 883 million were invested by the government, accounting for 56.23% of the total program investment; The fast growing and high yielding timber bases development in key regions completed an accumulative Investment of RMB 11.5.5 billion, of which RMB 62 million were invested by the government, accounting for only 5.33% of the total investment.

The investment gap between silviculture and forest industries has been further widened. The national total investment in fixed assets in 2004 was RMB 32.261 billion, accounting for 78.33% of the total investment in fixed assets. Among the total completed investment in fixed forestry assets, RMB 39.89 billion were in silviculture and RMB 1.297 billion were in forest industries. The proportion of silviculture to industries has been changed from 0.7:1 in 1990 to 31:1, indicating a further widened gap.

The level of utilization of foreign investment in forestry continued to increase. In 2004, the number of China\'s forestry projects utilizing foreign capital was 472, with an amount of foreign capital USD 633 million, 1.7 times of the amount in 2003, accounting for 1.04% of the total amount of the utilized foreign capital. Among the foreign capital used in forestry, USD 217 million were foreign loans, USD 357 million were direct foreign investment and USD 59 million was aid grants, accounting for 34.25%, 56.43% and 9.32% respectively of the total used foreign capital. The average investment of individual projects in forestry sector in 2004 was USD 1.34 million, an increase of USD 560,000 compared to USD 780,000 in 2003, closing to the national average of USD 1.39 million in 2004.

Forestry use of foreign capital mainly concentrated in the construction of fast growing and high yielding timber plantation and wood and bamboo processing. In terms of number of projects, 255 projects were silviculture projects, accounting for 54.03% of the total number of projects using foreign capital; 100 projects of wood and bamboo processing, accounting for 21.19% of the total. In terms of the actual amount of used foreign capital, the afforestation and wood and bamboo processing amounted to USD 527 million, accounting for 83.29% of the total amount of used foreign capital in forestry.