In 2016, 965 thousand cubic meters of roundwood were processed, 77% of which came from forest plantations, 17% from land and agriculture use, and 5% from forests.
From the summary of the National Forest Office (ONF) report :
As part of the results of this report, the primary wood processing industry, including stationary and portable units, is estimated to have processed 965,602 cubic meters of roundwood (m3-r).Of this volume, 745,267 m3-r (77.2%) came from forest plantations, 171,017 m3-r from land for agricultural use (17.7%) and 49,318 m3-r from forests (5.1%).Based on the above information, an increase of 0.9% is confirmed compared to the volume of logs reported in 2015.
Production and sales figures and an analysis of the barriers to the use and economic activity of timber in Costa Rica and how to overcome them.
From a report entitled "Market for timber and timber derivatives in Costa Rica by the Forestry Financing Fund (FONAFIFO):
This paper develops a strategy and a plan to increase the consumption of wood in the Costa Rican market.The proposal is based on an analysis of economic activity in the forestry sector and its flows.A deepening of the knowledge of the timber market has been achieved through a strong focus on supply and demand, as well as trade of products and determination of the main barriers that discourage the use and economic activity related to wood in Costa Rica.The size of the domestic market for timber and its derivatives is 643 000-669 000 cubic meters per year and their activities add to the economy more than $300 million in 2014.
In 2014 1.017.000 cubic meters of roundwood timber were processed, of which 78% came from forest plantations, 20% from land in use and agriculture, and 2% from forests.
From a summary of the study by the National Forestry Office (ONF):
As part of the results revealed in this report, it is estimated that the industry of primary wood processing, in both stationary and portable plants, processed 1,017,000 cubic meters of roundwood (m3-r).
Entrepreneurs in the timber industry are complaining that excessive regulation and high production costs are preventing them from exploiting the productive capacity of the sector.
Today, three quarters of total wood consumption is grown in the country and the rest is supplied by imports, however, "... Regulations mean that only a small percentage of the productive capacity of Costa Rica is used. "
Suggestions have been made to ease procedures and create more direct and indirect incentives to encourage the development of the forest industry in the country.
In an opinion piece published in Elfinancierocr.com, Keilor Rojas notes that "... the activity has decreased by 35% in recent years and the rate of reforestation per year went from 9,000 acres to about 2,000 today. "
During the last five years the sector fell by 37%,having mainly been affected by wood imports which increased by 141%.
Nacion.com reports: "The Costa Rican forest industry fell by 34.6% between 2007 and 2012, measured in number of processed rolls in m³ (m³-r), due to a sharp increase in imports from various countries." While wood the amount of wood imported in 2009 was valued at $20.3 billion, in 2012 the figure rose to $49.04 million.
The European Union has put into effect a regulation to combat trade in products manufactured with illegal timber with an emphasis on traceability.
From an article by the Costa Rican Trade Promotion Office (PROCOMER):
In March the European Union (EU) put into effect Regulation (EU) 995/2010 of the European Parliament which seeks to regulate the market for wood products in order to minimize the risk of selling illegal timber in the EU, this regulation requires the operator or company responsible for introducing a product of this nature to the region to be able to apply the principle of "due diligence", so as to ensure that timber traded is legal.
The National Forestry Bureau has presented a report on the uses and contributions of timber, statistics 2011, which includes the latest study on timber prices.
From the Executive Summary of the report of the National Forestry Office (ONF):
In order to collect the data we created a census with industries that are part of the ONF database, taking into consideration a total population of 273 primary processing timber industries.
From October, the Agricultural Research and Education Center CATIE will begin the second phase of its project FINNFOR, on Forests and Forest Management in Central America.
A statement of the Center for Tropical Agricultural Research and Higher Education Center (CATIE) reads:
FINNFOR officially begins its second phase
CATIE and the Government of Finland will seek to improve the livelihoods of small and medium forestry enterprises through the second phase of FINNFOR.
U.S. awarded in the next fifteen years more than $ 27 million for tropical forest conservation in the country.
This agreement becomes Costa Rica's largest recipient of the U.S. Law from 1998 (TFCA) for conservation of tropical forests, becoming now $ 50 million the total amount received for the conservation, restoration and protection of tropical forests.
Excessive paperwork due to political decisions and actions make it almost impossible to have access to the benefits for sustainable forest management.
This is what 50 experts, researchers, academicians and entrepreneurs from the sector who participated in a workshop determined.
The workshop was organized by the Tropical Agronomy Center for Investigation and Learning (Catie by its initials in Spanish) and the Organization for Tropical Studies (OTS by its initials in Spanish), under the auspices of the Costa Rica-United States Foundation (Crus by its initials in Spanish).