Forest products

A strong performance for its Europe & International division and improving conditions in its South Africa division have led to paper and packaging group Mondi reporting interim headline earnings a share of €0,24 a share.

This compared to a headline loss a share of €0,01 a share in the six months ended June 30, 2009.

Profit from continuing operations rose to €135-million in the six months ended June 30, 2010, compared with a loss of €24-million the year before.

SANTIAGO -(Dow Jones)- Increasing demand from China and other emerging Asian markets will drive Chile's forestry industry in coming years, said a panel of industry executives Tuesday.

Chile's forestry sector, which produces wood boards, plywood and pulp, accounts for 8% of global forestry exports. It is also the Andean nation's second-largest exporting industry, just behind mining, and contributes 3% of the country's gross domestic product.

Recent data on the Brazilian timber industry reveals that exports of timber products from the country (excluding pulp and paper) were at US$206 million in June, up a healthy 19 per cent on the previous year.

During the same period, exports of tropical sawnwood fell in both volume and value terms, however, to 38,500 cu.m and US$17.9 million, a decrease of 4.7 per cent in volume and 3.8 per cent in value terms on 2009.

As European paper-making continues to falter, the Asian superpower is growing capacity at a great rate.

Due to the global recession that began in the second half of 2008, China’s total log imports declined in 2009 to 28.1 million m3 (-5.1%). The unexpected turnaround in the Chinese economy, starting in Q2/2009, significantly moderated the falling trend in Chinese log import volumes for the year. China’s log imports were valued at about US$4.1 billion, down 21% by value from 2008. reports International Wood Markets Group, The total decrease in log imports from 2007 to 2009 was a whopping nine million m3 - a staggering 24%.