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URUGUAY

Zohra Bennadji
Director, Forestry Research

Instituto Nacional de Investigación Agropecuaria (INIA)

INTRODUCTION

Considering the last two decades of its forest development, Uruguay could be classified as an emergent forestry country. Indeed, since 1990, Uruguay moved from a traditional livestock producing nation to a forest country based on the establishment of fast growing eucalypts and pines plantations and on the gradual conformation of wood industry complexes.

This evolution was underpinned by a promotion set of policies and fiscal incentives included in the Forestry Law Nº15.939 (1987). This legal framework allowed a steady flow of national and foreign investments in forest industry (1, 3). From almost 45,000 hectares of industrial plantations in 1990, the planted area has expanded to an estimated of 700,000 ha in 2005 and the annual amount of forest products exports moved from 13 million US$ to approximately 150 million US$ during this period (3, 5).

COUNTRY BACKGROUND

Uruguay is located in the southeastern part of South of America, between 30º to 35º South and 53º to 58º West. Its total area is of 18 million hectares. The country has approximately 500 km of coastline. Most of its territory is made up of soft plains dotted with a vast network of rivers and streams. There is excellent water availability, estimated to 5.4 times more than the world average (3, 4). Grassland is the main ecosystem, used basically for extensive cattle raising. The climate is temperate with an average annual rainfall of 1,110 mm and a mean of low and high temperatures of 6°C and 32ºC respectively (3, 4).

FORESTRY RESOURCE

Broad forest types

Grassland, native forests and wetlands are the three typical ecosystems of the country. There are 640 thousand hectares of natural forests. According to their geographical location, botanical composition and density, five tree formations are usually reported (3, 4):

• Gallery o riparian forests (“Monte ribereño”)

• Rocky-hill forests (“Monte Serrano”)

• Ravine forests (“Bosque de quebrada”)

• Savannah forests (“Monte de parque“)

• Palm tree forests (“Palmares“)

Figure 1.  Forest plantations of Pinus sp. near Tacuarembo', Uruguay

Plantation resource base

The country has 3, 5 million hectares of soils suitable for forestry uses. This area is divided in for forestry priority regions, according to fertility soil characteristics. There are 800 thousand hectares of eucalypts and pines plantations (70 and 30 per cent respectively) (3).

Eucalyptus grandis, E. globulus, E. maidennii, Pinus taeda and P. elliottii, are the main species used at commercial scale, most of them with tree breeding programs and variety releases developed in both private and public research departments.

Tables 1 and 2 summarize the growth rates and rotation length of the main species of Eucalyptus and Pinus species by end uses and forestry regions.

Table 1: Growth rates and rotation length of Eucalyptus species.

Source: Synthesis of various industry sources

Table 2: Growth rates and rotation length of Pinus species.

Source: Idem Table 1.

CURRENT TRENDS

Forest industries in Uruguay are increasing their manufacturing capacity based on the new forest plantations estblished since 1987.  Several new large panel board plants - plywood and particle board - have been opened, established, or announced.  In addition, two new major pulp and paper mills have been announced and construction has started in Fray Bentos.  There has been considerable controversy about these due to opposition from Argentina, but construction on one has continued as more environmental impact studies are conducted. 

Uruguay is particularly useful as a case study because it has many forest firms that have obtained the Forest Stewardship Council certification. Due to its central geography and size, Uruguay also could serve as a scientific and business model in many respects for all South America (2). At 2006, five companies acquired the FSC certification with almost of 75,000 hectares (5). 

These trends have made Uruguay a significant contributor to plantation forestry compared to the past, and will increase the forestry sector as part of the economy.  Native forests remain protected, with only limited harvest allowed, and are spread throughout rivers, wetlands, and slected regions of the country.

Figure 2.  Nursery propagation of clonal Eucalyptus in Uruguay

CONCLUSION

In the last few years, there has been a decline in the annual planting. However, the recent entry of Stora Enso Company and the forestry promotion plan launched by Botnia Company for farm forestry at small and medium scales will probably change this trend.

The new government in function since March 2005 has discontinued the forest subsidies. The revision of the forest priority soils, the diversification of the species and the promotion of agroforestry systems are some of the planned policy actions.

REFERENCES AND FURTHER READING

1. Anonymous. Uruguayan Forestry. Environmentally, friendly and profitable investments opportunities. Forestry Component of the PRENADER Project IBRD – UR 3697. Forestry Bureau. Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Fishery. Siglo XXI producciones. 1995. 40 p.

2. Cubbage, Frederick; Wear, David; Bennadji, Zohra. “Economic Prospects and policy Framework of Forest Biotechnology in the Southern U.S.A. and South America” in Landscapes, Genomics and Transgenic Conifers”. Ed. C.G. Williams. Dordrecht, The Netherlands: Springer, 2006. pp. 191-207.

3. Forestry Bureau. Ministry of agriculture, Livestock and Fishery. “Forestry Statistics”. http//www.mgap.gub.uy/Sitios del Ministerio/Dirección General Forestal/. (10 April 2006).

4. National Environment Directorate (DINAMA). http://www.dinama.org.uy. (10 April 2006).

5. Uruguayan Forest Growers Society (Sociedad de Productores Forestales). http://www.spf.org.uy. (10 April 2006).

Uruguay_Version #4; 30 April 2007

Entry Posted: 3 August 2006

Entry Last Revised by Author or Editor: 30 April 2007