COLOMBIA - In the first five months of the year Colombian imports of particleboard (PB) / MDP reached USD 43.5 million.

This value amounts to a 13.0% growth compared to the values recorded in the same period of 2018 (USD 38.5 million).

Madecentro, with more than 50 percent of the imported value, was the main importer, with purchases abroad of PB / MDP of USD 24.3 million in the January-May 2019 period and over a million dollars more than what it imported in same period of the previous year (2018: USD 23.4 million) for a year-on-year growth of 4.2 percent.

Second in the list of importing companies is Duratex Colombia, with imports of particleboard in the first five months of 2019 for USD 6.05 million and a 51 percent growth in the period.

As a supplier company, Novopan del Ecuador continues to be the absolute leader of the PB / MDP shipments to Colombia, with more than USD 28 million in the first five months of 2019. This performance also places Ecuador as the main supplier country, followed by Brazil through Duratex and Berneck; by Chile with Arauco and Masisa and by Spain with Tableros Hispanos.

If this trend continues throughout the year, Colombia would surpass the USD 100 million mark for PB/MDP imports in 2019. This performance can be explained in part by the void left by the Colombian PB / MDP manufacturer Pizano S.A. that declared bankruptcy in February 2018.