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Small and medium forest owners affected by fires in Biobío reach 1,172

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According to the Report on Areas Affected by Forest Fires published by the Forestry Institute (Infor), as of March 2, 2023, the number of small and medium owners of standing forest plantations affected by the fires in the Biobío Region has reached 1,172.

The same document states that this translates to 21,958 damaged hectares.

Given the level of forest impact, Infor is working on a study to measure national timber supply. An analysis whose results will be available starting next month, confirmed the entity under the Ministry of Agriculture.

A task that now requires recalculation, as the forest fires occurred just as the analysis was already underway.

Juan José Ugarte, national president of the Chilean Wood Corporation (Corma), stated that "together with the Forestry Institute, we were conducting an in-depth study on long-term timber supply, but with 240,000 hectares burned nationwide, the numbers will change drastically, and new future projections will need to be made."

In this regard, the president of Corma explained that the 240,000 hectares of burned plantation forests represent 11% of the country's productive forest assets, "destroyed in just 3 weeks, with over 5,000 small forest owners seeing their family assets reduced to ashes."

Deeper analysis
Meanwhile, Michel Esquerré, president of Pymemad, confirmed Corma's statements and emphasized that a deeper analysis will be necessary to determine figures regarding the impact on regional timber production. "The damage to small (forest) owners who supply SMEs is so great that it is clear the productive chain will be affected at all levels and across all companies in the Region," he stressed.

In turn, the president of Pymemad highlighted that "a regional breakdown of the figures is needed, along with compiling all the information, which will not be an easy task."

Timber SME
Luis Huinca, owner of Maderas Madehuin in Concepción, has over 50 years of experience in the sector and hopes not to face raw material supply issues next year. "I have sourced from the Hualqui area and its surroundings for years, so I don’t expect supply problems for 2024. However, I do foresee a general price increase for production that was not severely damaged by the fires."

Huinca also noted that there is a type of young forest "that can withstand fire (partially burned) and heat to a certain extent, whose production can still be used in wooden housing construction."

Source:www.diarioconcepcion.cl