Chile consolidates leadership in sawn wood exports to South Korea

Chile positioned itself as the main supplier of sawn wood to the South Korean market during 2025, reaching a 21.7% share of that country's total imports and consolidating its dominance in the pine wood segment, where it concentrates more than half of Korean purchases.

This is shown by figures from the Forestry Institute (Infor), prepared based on data from the International Trade Centre (ITC), which evidence South Korea's strong dependence on forestry imports. During 2025, South Korean forestry exports totaled just US$ 70.96 million, while sector imports reached US$ 2,798.48 million.

Within these external purchases, sawn wood represented US$ 408.6 million, equivalent to 14.6% of South Korea's total imports in the forestry sector. The predominant species mainly correspond to fir and pine.

The report especially highlights Chile's performance in the category of sawn wood of Pinus spp. (tariff code 440711). In this segment, Chile recorded shipments worth US$ 88.9 million, capturing 50.1% of the Korean market.

Far behind are New Zealand, with a 21.8% share, and Latvia, with 5.5%. Germany and Lithuania complete the main suppliers.

One of the factors explaining this leadership is that 100% of Chilean shipments correspond to pine wood, mainly green wood, which represents 83.1% of national dispatches to South Korea.

The evolution of South Korean imports shows a strong increase in Chilean presence in recent years. According to the 2017-2025 series presented by Infor, Chile went from representing about 36% of pine wood imports in 2017 to exceeding 50% since 2022, remaining the dominant market player.

In contrast, the so-called "rest of the world" considerably reduced its share, falling from levels above 40% to around 13% in 2025. New Zealand, meanwhile, showed sustained growth until surpassing a 20% share in recent years.

Globally, South Korea ranks as the 17th largest importer of sawn wood in the world, concentrating 1.2% of international imports of this product.

In the specific case of sawn wood of Pinus spp., the Asian country rises to 10th place worldwide, with a 1.6% share of global imports.

According to Infor, these figures reflect the strategic relevance of the South Korean market for the Chilean forestry industry, particularly for the pine wood segment, where Chile maintains a widely dominant position compared to other international competitors.