Paraguay’s wooden trade is breaking information and altering the nation’s economic system. Official knowledge exhibits that in 2024, Paraguay exported nearly US$100 million in wooden merchandise. This contains charcoal, plywood, and sawn wooden.
Charcoal makes up most of those exports, however plywood and sawn wooden are rising quick. The US, Brazil, and the UK purchase most of Paraguay’s wooden. Different international locations like Italy, Chile, Portugal, Israel, Taiwan, and South Korea additionally import Paraguayan wooden merchandise.
These particulars come from Paraguay’s nationwide forestry company and the principle wooden trade group. Paraguay’s wooden trade has modified so much within the final 15 years. Buyers have helped the nation plant extra bushes.
Since 2010, the realm of tree plantations has grown from about 50,000 to over 200,000 hectares.In 2023, Paraguay planted a document 60,000 hectares and plans so as to add extra in 2024.
The nation can also be constructing its first pulp mill, a US$3 billion venture that may improve exports and jobs. Paraguay’s location makes exports more durable. The nation doesn’t have a beach, so transport prices are excessive.
Some enterprise guidelines and weak infrastructure additionally gradual issues down. However Paraguay’s fast-growing eucalyptus bushes produce extra wooden per hectare than many different international locations. Most of Paraguay’s wooden now comes from planted forests, not from pure forests.
The trade makes use of worldwide certificates to indicate consumers that the wooden is grown responsibly. Paraguay has a brand new regulation that lets forest house owners earn cash for capturing carbon, whereas nonetheless letting them promote the wooden.
The federal government desires to show as much as 2.2 million hectares of farmland into forests. This could make the wooden trade as vital as farming and cattle. Buyers from Argentina and Sweden are serving to this development.
