Latin America: year 2011, record in export wood chips

Global trade of wood chips has gone up substantially the past two years. Hardwood export from Chile, Uruguay and Brazil was up 43 percent in 2011 compared to 2009, reported by the “Wood Resource Quarterly”. A clear majority of the increase was Eucalyptus chips destined for pulp mills in Japan and Europe. Wood chip exports from Latin America are on track to reach a record of almost eight million tons in 2011. This would be an increase of seven percent from last year and of almost 60 percent higher than 2006. Chile is by far the biggest exporter, accounting for two-thirds of the total shipments from the continent, while Brazil and Uruguay both account for about 16 percent each. 2011, Chile was the world’s second largest supplier of hardwood chips after Vietnam. Latin America’s hardwood chip export volumes accounted for approximately 50 percent of globally traded wood chips, a share that has grown from 34 percent five years ago.