WELLINGTON - The value of New Zealand forestry product exports has more than doubled in the last two decades, driven by sales of logs to China, the New Zealand government statistics agency announced Monday.

In 2012, New Zealand exported NZ$4.5 billion ($3.75 billion) worth of forestry products, compared with NZ$1.9 billion($1.58 billion) in 1992, making forestry products the third-largest goods exports, after dairy and meat, according to Statistics New Zealand.

"In 1992, logs accounted for less than a quarter of New Zealand's total forestry exports, but overseas demand, particularly from China, saw this jump to 35 percent by 2012," prices manager Chris Pike said in a statement.

The value of log exports more than tripled from NZ$443 million ($368.89 million) 1992 to NZ$1.6 billion ($1.33 billion) in 2012, and since 2008, the value had risen by 22 percent a year on average.

"This rise was due mainly to the volume of log exports tripling. Prices have increased by a smaller 16 percent," Pike said.

The increased export of logs to China had been a major contributor to the greater value of log exports, rising from just NZ$59 million ($49.13 million) in 1992 to slightly more than NZ$1 billion ($832.92 million) by 2012, making China the country's top market for logs, surpassing both South Korea and Japan.

"New Zealand is now the third-largest exporter of logs in the world, after Russia and the United States. In 2012, we supplied 8 percent of the total value of the world's export logs," Pike said.

Sawn timber was the second-largest forestry product export, followed by manufactured wood products, paper and paper products, and wood pulp.

"Between 1992 and 2012, New Zealand has become more reliant on log exports. China is now a key market for our forestry products, taking 34 percent of the total value of our forestry-product exports in 2012, compared with 4 percent in 1992," Pike said.