BRAZIL - The data published by IBA (Industria Brasileira de Árvores) reflects a significant recovery in the month of June for Brazilian wooden panel consumption, which contributed to an improvement in sales and domestic consumption of the Brazilian wood-based panel industry for the year.

In June 2018, the internal consumption of wood boards in Brazil reached 576 thousand m3, an increase of 15% compared to June 2017 (501 thousand m3). Consolidated sales for first six months of the year in the Brazilian domestic market reached 3.15 million m3, an improvement of 1.7% compared to the same period of 2017 (3.09 million m3).

In the period from January to June, the Brazilian manufacturers of wood panels presented an improvement of 8.6% in the volume exported, reaching 641 thousand m3 (2017: 590 thousand m3).

In value, in the first six months, board exports grew 8.0%, reaching USD 148 million in the period (2017: USD 137 million).

Latin America was the main regional export market for Brazilian wooden panels in the first half of the year with USD 84 million (2017: USD 75 million), which represented an improvement of 12%. North America followed with USD 32 million.