Although trees don’t grow to the sky, in Argentina they do so at great speed. And this is a great advantage in a world that, affected by climate change, needs to capture the carbon dioxide that goes into the atmosphere. These natural conditions allow short trips from 9 to 15 years old when in the Nordic countries it goes from 30 to 45 years old.
Regard An opportunity so far seriously missed. if you translate what is happening in neighboring Uruguay with its third paper mill. Or Paraguay, which inaugurates its first factory after an outlay of 3,200 million dollars by Paracel, the Swedish and Paraguayan capital. And the novelty is that it will have Argentinian raw material and will return it processed.
Brazil, to cite another case, has invested 25 billion dollars in the last 15 years and Chile is already in its third pulp plant.
The investments have passed
Of course, it cannot be considered discrimination against Argentina. simply, the economic instability made investments pass. But in the sector they do not lower their arms. They joined Confiar (Argentine Industrial Forestry Council) which connects all the links of that long industrial chain, from the plantation to the final product, including machinery manufacturers.
The country has 1.3 million hectares of forest plantations and 53.6 million hectares of native forests, with another 3.7 million hectares available to expand plantations that do not compete with native forests or crops.
And a lot of that is about new players. In the last year, oil companies like Vista de Miguel Galuccio use forest plantations as leverage to offset the carbon dioxide emissions of their business. And laboratories like the The Swiss company Novartis is on the same path.
Precisely in 100 kilometers around the Correntina Virasoro, in the heart of Mesopotamia, is already mentioned as the largest basin for the forest industry of the world.
Claudia Peirano, one of the largest references in the sector, highlights the investment of Belgian Akon timber in Virasoro which has 6 hectares of warehouses and a bioenergy plant.
the opportunity is now
It joins the ambitiously planned purchase of Central Puerto by the Miguens-Bemberg, Escasany and Reca families, which added the 88,000 hectares of forest owned by Harvard University. “Finland and Canada are very interested,” adds Peirano. “The opportunity is huge”, says Claudio Terres de Ledesma, who clarifies that trees must be planted in the right place,
Exemplify with eucalyptus that if it is found in areas with 800mm of annual rainfall, it does not compromise groundwater. Furthermore, wood fiber appears on the horizon because it is biodegradable as a natural substitute for plastic. “It is the green cow of Argentina”, dissolved Osvaldo Vassallo another leader of the sector.
that the industry employs about 50,000 people and the furniture sector, according to Mercedes Omeñuka, is hit by strong demand in times of pandemic. There is a lot of stock here and around the world.
Added to this are the disadvantages the lack of critical inputs arriving from abroad such as various chemicals, resins, wood impregnating salts, spare parts for machinery, the indispensable fabric for paper forming and furniture accessories.
Thinking towards 2030, in Confiar they have designed a possible project which consists of increase the area with forest plantations by 50%. and raise it to 2 million hectares, create 180,000 jobs and increase exports to $2.5 billion a year. Naturally, this requires investments of 7,000 million dollars. I hope to see the light.
Source: Clarin
