The Brazilian planted tree industry achieved growth in exports in 2016. During this period exports totaled 12.9 million tons of pulp (+12%); 2.1 million tons of paper; and 1 million m3 (+64%) of wood panels, as the Brazilian Tree Industry (Ibá) said in the press release received by Lesprom Network.
In 2016, the industry achieved exports totaling $ 7.4 billion (-1.6%), pulp achieved $5.5 million (-0.5%), paper with $1.8 billion (-7.4 %) and wood panels with $250 million (+28.2%) Total balance of trade for the industry from January to December 2016 is $6.6 billion, which represents a 2.4% increase compared to the balance of trade year-over-year.
The Chinese market stabilized as the leading destination for pulp exports, achieving 38.9% of share ($2.1 billion), followed by Europe with 33.1% ($1.8 billion). Latin America was the main consumer market for paper and wood panels. Exports for the region respectively represented 60.6% ($1.1 billion) and 54.4% ($136 million).
Brazilian pulp production achieved 18.7 million tons (+8.1%) last year. Paper production remained stable totaling 10.3 million tons.
Paper sales in the domestic market surpassed 5.4 million tons (-0.3%) in 2016, while the wood panel segment sold more than 6.2 million cubic metres.
“This year will require a great effort from the companies in the planted tree industry to recover the drop in export prices and ensure an actual growth in revenue. The Brazilian Central Bank has been working to keep inflation within the middle of the target, and it is also essential that the Government concludes other reforms so that we can see a sustainable recovery of the Brazilian economy still this year”, states Elizabeth de Carvalhaes, Ibá’s executive president.