In the first quarter, Chile exported a total volume of 92,265 t radiata pine plywood. This represents a decline of 6.2% vis à vis the relatively low starting level recorded for the first quarter of 2020. The last time Instituto Forestal (Infor) reported a lower value for a first quarter was in 2014 (55,432 t). Considered over all quarters of past years, the last time the current export volume was not reached was in the fourth quarter of 2017 (89,733 t). Between then and now, export delivery volumes had usually been considerably above the 100,000 t mark; last year, this mark had been exceeded in the second (+15.0% to 113,638 t), third (+2.8% to 123,419 t) and fourth (+7.7% to 116,546 t) quarters. After a significant decline at the beginning of 2020 (Q1: -17.9%), slight growth of 1.1% to 451,920 t was recorded for the entire year.
In January 2021 (+32.7% to 41,675 t), the increase in plywood exports initially continued. Following a considerable drop of 29.9% to 23,593 t in February, the decline rates were less significant in March (-18.8% to 26,997 t) and April (-19.6% to 28,808 t). Thus, accumulated over the first four months of the current year, Chilean exports of radiata pine plywood - at 121,073 t - fell 8.8% short of the comparative figure. Due to the significant increase in average prices vis à vis the comparative period of 2020, to US$927.6/t FOB, the export value rose by 17.1% to US$112.3m despite the decline in terms of volume.
