CHILE - The Chilean Wood Corporation, CORMA, projected that forestry exports will close 2017 with shipments for a total of USD 5.46 billion, which will represent an increase of 3.7% compared to 2016.

For 2018 the Corporation foresees a similar performance to 2017, projecting that sector exports will total around USD 5.40 billion.

The president of CORMA, Fernando Raga, indicated that the increase of 3.7% in the total amount with which it would end 2017, “is due mainly to the increase in the international prices of bleached cellulose of long and short fiber, products that represent of half of the total exports of the year.”

He noted that long fiber cellulose has presented an increase of 5.4%, while short fiber cellulose has risen by 8.5%, so far this year, “mainly due to the strong Chinese demand and a lower availability of supply, mainly of short fiber cellulose, due to the difficulties that the implementation of the OKi project (of the Asia Pulp & Paper Group) of Indonesia and other unscheduled stoppages such as Guaiba II of CMPC have had to face.”

The Chilean Wood Corporation indicated that exports of sawnwood, which represent around 10% of forest exports, performed very similar to 2016, registering a decrease in volume of around 2% and a 4% increase in price, mainly due to strong Chinese demand, which is today the main market for this product, followed by South Korea and Japan.

Fernando Raga indicated that the moldings, elaborated wood and other remanufactured products showed similar performance, expecting that they will conclude 2017 with a slight increase in exported volumes.