BRAZIL - In 2018 the consumption of wood boards in Brazil reached 6.67 million m3, an increase of 2.9 percent compared to 2017 (6.49 million m3) according to the monthly report by IBA (Brazilian Tree Industry).

The volumes exported in 2018 by Brazilian wood panel manufacturers totaled 1.33 million m3, growth of 4.2 percent against the 1.27 million m3 exported in 2017.

The export values of Brazilian wooden boards in 2018 also show a positive result, growing 7.3 percent and reaching USD 310 million (2017: USD 289 million). Among the Brazilian board manufacturers, the largest exporters were Duratex and Berneck.

Latin America was the main regional export market for Brazilian wooden boards in 2018, with USD 179 million (2017: USD 151 million), which represented an improvement of 18.5 percent. The North American market followed with USD 70 million, a slight improvement of 1.4 percent compared to the same period of 2017.

For the month of December 2018, consolidated sales in the domestic market reached 524 thousand m3, a slight improvement of 0.4 percent compared to the same period of 2017 (522 thousand m3).