ECUADOR – Exports of Ecuadorian particleboard / MDP (PB / MDP) reached USD 11.84 million in the first month of 2020, a remarkable growth of 31.0 percent compared to January 2019 (USD 9.04 million).

Behind this strong growth is Novopan del Ecuador, which supplied 97.8 percent of the total exported by the country. In January 2020, Novopan’s PB / MDP exports reached USD 11.58 million with a strong growth of 30 percent compared to January 2019 (USD 8.91 million).

The main external market for Ecuadorian PB / MDP was again Colombia. In January 2020, USD 7.35 million of Ecuadorian PB / MDP was shipped to the neighboring country, an outstanding growth of over 42 percent compared to the same month of 2019 (USD 5.17).

Peru, as is customary, was the second most important market for Ecuadorian particleboard, with purchases of USD 3.48 million and growth of 4.4 percent compared to the same period of 2019 (USD 3.34 million). Peru, together with Colombia, represent around 94.4 percent of Ecuador’s PB / MDP exports in the first month of 2020.

While in Colombia there is local PB / MDP production by Duratex and Primadera, in Peru national production has been non-existent since the closure of Tableros Peruanos S.A. (Tapesa) in early 2017.