Overview of timber sector of Peru

Production and processing

According to ITTO (2017) the industry of Peru produced in 2015 about 1.3 million m³ of logs, almost all is consumed by the domestic market for further processing.

There are about 250 sawmills in Peru, most of which have a small installed capacity (averaging 2900 m³ per year). According to local sources (Customs Peru, SUNAT), there are many more sawmills. Only about 25% of sawmills have band-saws and a capacity of 10.000 m³ per year or more (ITTO, 2011). According to local sources (Customs Peru, SUNAT), there are many more sawmills. By far most sawn timber is produced in the Peruvian Amazon regions Loreto, Madres de Dios, Ucayali and Junin (MINAGRI - SERFOR 2016).

The largest areas under concession are located in the administrative regions of Madre de Dios, Loreto and Ucayali, which are located in the north-eastern Amazonian region of the country. The Madre de Dios region has most FSC certified concessions.

Export

Exports of primary timber products in 2015 was dominated by exports of sawn wood. Total export value in 2015 was around 67 million US dollars.

Solid timber exports are dominated by tropical sawn hardwood and mouldings together with small volumes of plywood.

In Peru it is not permitted to export logs from natural forests, but Peru has never evolved an internationally competitive wood manufacturing sector and exports of value added products such as wood furniture have remained at low levels (Oliver, 2013). As can be observed from the largest markets for Peruvian wood product exports are China, Mexico and the United States of America, although other countries in South America and the EU are also important export markets.

Logistics infrastructure

In these remote areas transportation of timber from the Amazonian forests is done by rivers (EIA, 2012). In many cases the timber from the Amazon rainforest is transported to the Port of Iquitos and the Port of Callao or Pucallpa or downstream from the Amazon River to Macapá in Brazil where it is shipped to Mexico and the U.S. (EIA, 2012).

Data table

ITTO (2019), data 2017