Sawlog prices are also higher in Chile, partly because of the availability of the export market. The volumes of wood which will be available in the next five years will expand rapidly, and the challenge will be to bring in the processing facilities when the most likely markets will be for export only. In Argentina is currently much farther along in developing its industry than Uruguay, but is still a good 10 years or so behind Chile and Brazil. Improvements in the river transportation system will help to make them much more competitive, assuming economic problems can be overcome. Fletcher Challenge has made a small move into this country, but it appears that the Chileans may be leading development here, speeding up the process greatly.
Chile has a sophisticated, well developed forest products industry.
Much better located relative to the expanding Asian markets than the rest of the Mercosur countries, and with species that have become well known thanks to the efforts of the New Zealanders and the Chileans. The very high degree of concentration in the Chilean industry is a problem which has restricted development, and this is likely to change only very slowly. The lack of a domestic market has also been difficult, but it has forced the Chileans from the beginning to be competitive in the international markets. I believe they have done a much better job developing their processing industries than New Zealand, for example, which has roughly the same area of radiata plantations and the same annual harvest, but in New Zealand log exports are 3 times the volume of Chile. In Brazil is the giant in the region, both in terms of forest area and total production.