Living in Peru : your everyday companion

Peru has the potential to export 3.5 billion dollars worth of wood products, taking into account that the United Nations Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO) has forecast that world wood demand will increase to over 5 billion cubic meters annually by the year 2010, Peru's Foreign Trade Society (ComexPerú) announced on Sunday.

Comex explained that Peru has 15,000 hectares of forest plantations for industrial purposes, and 9.2 million hectares of permanent production forests.

By 2020, it is expected that both number of hectares increase to 100,000 and 24 million, respectively.

With this increase, Peru's production will rise from 2.57 million cubic meters to 30.24 million. Comex detailed that in 2007 Peru exported $211 million worth of wood and registered a growth of 96 percent between 2003 and 2007.

The main destination markets were Mexico, the United States and China, with 33, 32 and 20 percent, respectively.

The major wood exporting countries are Canada, the United States, Finland, Sweden and Germany; while the main importers are the United States, China, Japan, Germany and the UK.

News source: ANDINA