From January to June of 2017, Brazilian pulp exports rose 6.8% in comparison with the same period of the previous year, reaching 6.8 million tons; exports of wood panels increased by 34.8%, with 597,000 cubic meters directed to foreign markets, and paper exports grew 1% with almost 1.1 million tons traded.
This positive performance propelled export revenues past the $4 billion mark in the first half of this year, a growth of 7.3% compared to the first six months of 2016; it also created a $3.6 billion surplus in the trade balance for the sector, an increase of 9.1%.
From January to June of 2017, pulp exports reached $3 billion (+9.8%), while paper exports were $925 million (-2%) and wood panel exports reached $137 million (+25.7%).
More than 42% of the pulp Brazil exported went to China in the first half of 2017, representing revenues of $1.3 billion; this is an increase of 25.5% over the same period in 2016. Latin American countries continued to be the main markets for paper and wood panels during this period, with export revenues of $593 million (+10%) and US$ 75 million (+27.1%), respectively.
Brazilian pulp production surpassed 9.5 million tons, growing 5% between January and April of 2017 in comparison with 2016, and paper registered 5.1 million tons (-0.7%).
During the first semester of 2017, paper sales on the domestic market reached 2.6 million tons, a drop of 1.6% compared with the same period last year. At the same time, the wooden panel sector registered sales of 3.1 million cubic metres in Brazil (-1.6%).