For the last several years, about two million cubic meters per year have been exported from these three countries. Woodchip exports from this region have been much less, but will increase in the future. In addition, Sumitomo has exported Acacia mearnsii to Japan for several years. Only a few vessels of eucalyptus are exported from Argentina, to Japan, each year. Later this summer, Venezuela will become a woodchip exporting nation, when Veneston begins exporting caribbean pine chips from its new operation.
Chile is also a country with a fiber surplus.
The eucalyptus harvest in Chile is also set to expand rapidly, based on increased plantation establishment during the 1990s. Chile is a major woodchip exporter and a minor pulplog exporter. Some of the increased harvest in Chile during the next decade will be used within country to produce additional market pulp, but wood will also continue to be available for export. The reason is that domestic wood consumption in Russia has fallen even faster than the timber harvest, and so Russia has for the most part maintained its flow of logs to the international markets. In Eastern Russia, sawlog exports to Japan have increased from less than 4 MMCM in 1992 to 6 MMCM in 1997.