Brazilian solid wood products exports reached
$2,512 million in January-October 2005, up only
0.6% from the same period in 2004. October
exports amounted to $245.37 million, a 7.3%
contraction from the same month last year.
Exports of pine plywood, a major export product,
were 189,000 m³ ($51.7 million) in October, up
8.5% from the same month in 2004. Tropical
plywood, in contrast, continued to decline,
contracting 51% to 38,900 m³ (down 48.7% to
$15.7 million in value) in October 2005. Tropical
plywood exports have been gradually substituted by
pine plywood exports.
Pine lumber exports fell 15.1% to 129,900 m3 in
October 2005 (down 11.5% to $21.6 million in
value), while tropical lumber exports recovered
2.4% to 144,200 m3 (up 20% to $51.5 million in
value) compared to October 2004. Furniture exports
fell to $68.5 million in October, down 13.8% from
October last year.
Losses in plywood exports at around $20 million
According to ABIMCI (Brazilian Association of
Mechanically Processed Wood), plywood exporters
face financial losses of almost $10 million since last
July, while the cumulative losses for the year may
double that value. The situation is a result primarily of the depreciation of the US dollar. Moreover, the
USA started applying an 8% duty on imports of
Brazilian plywood in mid-2005 after exports of this
product exceeded the established quote under the
GSP tariff system.
However, Brazilian producers think that the quota
was exceeded due exclusively to the huge US
demand in the first quarter of 2004. ABIMCI
requested the Brazilian Presidency and the Minister
of Development, Industry and Foreign Trade to take
action in order to change the US decision.
According to the association, the duty can cause the
closing of many companies in the sector that have
already been suffered from the low US dollar,
mainly in the Southern States of Paraná and Santa
Catarina.
Efforts to eliminate this duty are now under way in
Brazil, more specifically with actions taken by a
pine plywood company located in the State of
Paraná. The company has presented an action
against the taxation at the US International Trading
Commission (ITC). Most of the company’s
production is aimed at the US plywood market.
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