Guyana recorded a 44.1 per cent increase in the value of timber exports during the first quarter of 2010 when compared with the corresponding period last year, according to the Ministry of Agriculture’s January – March commodity market update. The report attributes the increase in the value of timber exports primarily to increases in plywood and log exports to the Asia/Pacific region market where sales totaled $4.67 million or 41.53 per cent of the total export value of overall timber sales. The report says that while regional markets for Guyana’s sawn woods remained strong other notable markets were found in Europe where consumption was marginally higher than in Latin America and the Caribbean but where the value gained was lower when the two regions were compared.
During the first quarter of 2010, round wood recorded a 20 per cent price increase compared with the same period last year. The report attributes the size of the hike in round wood prices to the larger volumes of greenheart piles being imported into the United States.
Over the same period sawn wood recorded a price increase of 13 per cent while log prices reflected a 2 per cent price increase over the same period last year. Split wood and plywood recorded declines in average prices by 8 per cent and 9 per cent, respectively, when compared with price levels during the corresponding period in 2009.
Meanwhile, the report says that a review of timber production during the first quarter of 2010 reflects an overall increase when compared with the corresponding period last year. These increases in production volumes were recorded for logs, split wood and plywood with volumes increasing by approximately 13 per cent in the case of logs and 100 per cent in the cases of split wood and plywood. The same period last year the forestry sector recorded decreases of 2.8 per cent and 14.22 per cent, respectively, in sawn wood and round wood production.
