Guyana's sawn lumber exports continue to pick up in 2008

   Moscow. Sep 02, 2008. /Lesprom.com/. Guyana's exports of dressed sawn lumber continued to rise during the first half of 2008, jumping 40% in 2008 compared to the same period in 2007, accounting for 15% of total sawnwood exports, ITTO reported. This offered encouraging news to local manufacturers who in the past have pointed to challenges in gaining raw materials to meet their capacity.

This outcome had increasingly been anticipated over the past few months as Guyana experienced a shift from exports of undressed lumber to dressed lumber as further processed lumber obtained higher value in the markets. Barbados, Guyana's most lucrative and leading destination for this dressed lumber, recently shifted its demand from undressed to dressed lumber, which has helped boost exports in the first half of 2008.

A comparative analysis also revealed a 17% increase in average prices for dressed lumber over 2007 figures. Despite this shift, undressed lumber continued to account for a fairly large share of total exports, mainly because of higher and continued demand from other markets including many in the Latin American/Caribbean region. The leading destinations for undressed sawn lumber were China, the Netherlands and US. Overall, sawnwood exports had increased both in volume and value.