BRAZIL - The data published by IBA (Industria Brasileira de Árvores) show how the strong contraction presented in May contributed to the deceleration of sales and domestic consumption of the Brazilian wood panel industry for the accumulated of the year.

In May 2018, the internal consumption of wood panels in Brazil reached 393 thousand m3, a sharp drop of 25.8% compared to May 2017 (530 thousand m3). In the accumulated first five months of the year, sales in the Brazilian domestic market reached 2.57 million m3, a fall of 0.9% compared to the same period of 2017 (2.59 million m3).

In the period from January to May, the Brazilian manufacturers of wood panels presented an improvement of 5.5% in the volume exported reaching 517 thousand m3 (2017: 490 thousand m3). In values, in the first five months, board exports grew 8.8%, reaching USD 123 million in the period (January - May 2017: USD 113 million).

Latin America was the main regional export market for Brazilian wooden boards with USD 70 million (2017: 62 million), followed by North America with USD 27 million (2017: 26 million).