In 2004, the primary forestry production of the country amounted to R$8.5 billion, of which 62% came from forestry (planted forests) and 38% from extractive agriculture (products collected from native forests). Wood products accounted for 84% of the cost of extractive agriculture  and non-wood products, for 16%.

These data come from the Extractive Agriculture and Forestry Production, which shows the changes in physical production between 2003 and 2004, the participation of segments in the total cost of forestry exploration, besides an analysis of the main products, with special highlight to the main producing states and municipalities in 2004. In the publication, there are tables with the ranking of municipalities by product.

Among the forestry products whose production increased between 2003 and 2004, vegetal resin was the highlight. Its production hiked from 50 957 tons to 53 390 tons, which means expansion by 4.77% (Graph 2). Besides this product, barks of black acacia (1.55%), firewood (0.30%) and coal (0.15%) also had an increase in production.

The amount of wood for paper and cellulose fell by 6.55%, whereas that of wood for other uses, by 17.81%. Because of that, in 2004, the total amount of wood produced in the segment of forestry (87 515 161 m³) was reduced by 12.22% in relation to 2003.

Graph 2 – Forestry Production – Comparison 2003 / 2004 - Brazil

Among non-wood products, the most important in 2004 was piassaba palm (a type of fiber from the state of Bahia), accounting for 25% of the production of non-wood extractive agricultural production in Brazil (a total of R$ 506,96 million). Other relevant products are babassu (nuts), for 19%; Yerba Mate (herb from South America), 15%; açaí (fruit),12%, carnauba wax palm (wax powder),9% and Brazil nut, 6%. Together, these products accounted for 86% of the overall production. The production of all wood-products decreased: firewood (-0.13%), vegetal coal (-1.855), logs in general, including native Brazilian pine (-7.55%), logs of native Brazilian wood (-21.12%) and Parana Pine -commonly known as nó-de-pinho (-23.47%).

Graph 4 – Changes in extractive agriculture between 2003 and 2004, Brazil

In terms of non-wood products, 15 had increase in production between 2003 and 2004; 5 kept the same level as in the previous year, and 14 had decline. The item with the highest relative increase was "Other aromatic, medicinal and toxic substances and artificial colors", which surpassed by 66.50% the previous year-production. This growth occurred, above all, due to the industrial demand for fava d’anta, a plant typical of the Brazilian Savannah, whose fruit provides medicinal substances which strengthen blood vessels and capillaries, and also prevents diabetes and cataract. The municipality of Barra do Corda (in Maranhão) was the main Brazilian producter in 2004, with 2,065 tons of "Other aromatic, medicinal and toxic substances and artificial colors", among which are included the fruits of fava d'anta.

The product with the second highest level of increase in production was fiber of buriti - a palm tree that grows in some regions of Brazil (36.67%), due, to a great extent, to the incentive to the export of Brazilian handcraft made up of this palm by communities in the municipalities of Barreirinhas and Tutóia, in Maranhão.

Among the falling products are oiticica trees (seeds), with a reduction by 90.53%. This reduction occurred because the state of Ceará did not contribute to its production in 2004, once this plant has a two-year vegetative/reproductive cycle. However, the state is an important national producer of oiticica seeds in the years when the plant blooms and bears fruits. The remaining items with reduction between 2003 and 2004 were: jaborandi (leaf), -69.63%; other oilseeds, -57.21%; alumbarktree (barks), -41.67%; açaí (fruit), -30.09%; mangaba (Brazilain fruit), -20.92%; annatto (seed), -19.19%; native palm, -11.52%; angico – a type of Brazilian shrub (barks), cumaru (nuts), -8.25%; tecum fiber (nuts), -4.48%; copaiba (oil), -0.86%; licuri fruit (nuts), -0.81% and pequi (nuts), -0.36%.

In relation to wood products, the figures changed little from 2003 to 2004: from extractive agriculture come 49% of the total production of vegetal coal, 41% of firewood and 82% of logs produced in the country.

Minas Gerais concentrated 76.14% of the national production of coal

Concerning coal coming from planted forests, the main producing state , Minas Gerais, concentrated 76.14% of the national production in 2004. Among the 20 biggest producers of coal in Brazil, 16 are from Minas Gerais. Buritizeiro was in the first position with 6.03% of the national production, followed by the municipalities of Itamarandiba and João Pinheiro. Together, these three municipalities accounted for 13.81% of the overall production in Brazil, and of 18.13% of the production in Minas. In this ranking can also be found the municipalities of Açailândia, in Maranhão, Caravelas and Alcobala (in Bahia) and Ribas do Rio Pardo (in Mato Grosso do Sul).

Coal presented visible decline along the period from 1997 to 2002, but this tendency was changed in 2003, with expansion by 7.70%, although in the following year the increase was only 0.15%.

In relation to the production of coal, the highlights are the states of Mato Grosso do Sul, with 23.64% of the 2 185 950 tons produced in the country in 2004; Minas Gerais, with 19.85%; Maranhão, with 19.70%; Goiás, with 15.36%; Bahia, with 10.54% and Paraíba, with 6.24%. The municipality of Bom Jardim (in Maranhão) produced 5.38% of the total amount in the country. Other important municipalities were Grajaú, also in the state of Maranhão; Ribas do Rio Pardo, Água Clara, Três Lagoas, Santa Rita do Prado, and Campo Grande, in Mato Grosso do Sul; Cocos, Jaborandi, Correntina, São Félix do Coribe, and Coribe, in the state of Bahia; Iaciara, Sítio d'Abadia, and Doverlândia, in Goiás; Cruz Machado, Bituruna and General Carneiro, in Paraná; João Pinheiro and Buritizeiro, in Minas Gerais. The total amount of vegetal coal produced in these municipalities accounted for 38.78% of the national production in 2004.

In terms of forestry, the production of firewood in Brazil reached 34 004 544 m³. Rio Grande do Sul, the main producing state, accounted for 36.38% of this total. The municipalities of Butiá, Santa Cruz do Sul and Taquari, in Rio Grande do Sul were the major producers, responsible for 2.35%, 2.18% and 1.85% of the national production, respectively. The second major producing state was São Paulo, contributing 20.19% to the overall national production of firewood. In São Paulo, the principal municipalities were Itapetininga, Itaberá and Ibiúna.

Rio Grande do Sul accounted for 36.38% of all the production of firewood

The national production of firewood was 47 168 345 m3. The five main states contributing to this figure in 2004 were: Bahia, which accounted for 25.72% of the national total, Ceará, for 9.68%, Pará, for 7.99%, Maranhão, for 96.29% and Minas Gerais, for 96.05%. In Bahia, the main producer was the municipality of Xique-Xique, with a production of 665 141 m³, which granted it the first position in the national ranking.

Pará accounted for over half of the overall production of logs

In 2004, the national production of logs in the segment of extractive agriculture reached 19 102 794 m³, and the state of Pará accounted for 55.50% of this figure. It means the state contribution increased by over 3.02 percentage points in relation to 2003. Of the 20 major producing municipalities, 14 are located in Pará: Tailândia, Portel, Paragominas, Almeirim, Baião, Altamira, Ulianópolis, Dom Eliseu, Redenção, Moju, Ipixuna do Pará, Oeiras do Pará, Rondon do Pará and Mãe do Rio. This group of municipalities accounted for 37.23% of the national production and for 67% of the production of logs extracted from native or natural forests in the state.

Mato Grosso, with a production of 2 343 121 m³, was the second major national producer in 2004 and the main producers were Marcelândia and União do Sul. In third place was Bahia, where the municipality of Riacho de Santana was the main producer (299 642 m³), having concentrated 19.55% of the total in the state or 1.58% of the total in the country.

The map below shows the location of the ten major municipalities which produced logs in 2004. It is easy to see the concentration of wood production in 2004, and the area known as "Deforestation Arch".

As for logs from planted forests, the amount produced in 2004 was 87 515 161 m³, of which about 53% were directed to the industry of cellulose and paper and 47% to other uses (furniture, construction, etc). São Paulo was the main wood-producing state. It contributed 27% to the overall amount, that is, 23 628 909 m³.

In the ranking of national production of wood for paper and cellulose, the state of São Paulo was the number one producer, accounting for 14 824 430 m³, that is, 32% of the national total. In the next five positions are Santa Catarina (6 306 325 m³), Paraná (6 300 320 m³), Bahia (5 318 263 m³), Espírito Santo (3 911 206 m³) and Minas Gerais (3 241 220 m³). The municipality of Itapetininga, in São Paulo, with a production of 2 860 350 m³, accounted for 6.81% of the overall production in the country, and kept his status as major national producer. Still in São Paulo, other highlights are: Capão Bonito, Itararé, Angatuba and São Miguel Arcanjo. The twenty major producing municipalities were responsible for 42.73% of the national production. In Paraná, the highlights were Telêmaco Borba and Lapa. In Santa Catarina, Caçador and Ponte Alta do Norte. In Bahia, the main producers were Mucuri, Santa Cruz da Cabrália, Caravelas, Porto Seguro and Nova Viçosa. In Espírito Santo, Conceição da Barra, Aracruz and São Mateus. It is important to highlight that the municipalities of Porto Grande, in Amapá, and Almeirim, in Pará, were, respectively, the second and third most important ones in the national ranking of producers of wood for paper and cellulose.

In the ranking of national production of logs for other uses (furniture, construction, etc) taken from planted forests, the state of Paraná was in the first position with 11 423 356 m³, that is 27% of the total in the country (41 230 327 m³). In the following positions are Santa Catarina, accounting for 25.03%, São Paulo (21,35%), Rio Grande do Sul (10.74%) and Minas Gerais (8.07%).

The main producer in 2004 was the municipality of General Carneiro, in Paraná, whose production accounted for 3.78% of the national total. There are also the municipalities of Itapetininga, in São Paulo, Telêmaco Borba, in Paraná; Várzea da Palma, in Minas Gerais and Caçador, in Santa Catarina. The twenty major producing municipalities concentrated 33% of the national production of logs from planted forests for furniture, construction and other uses, except the production of paper and cellulose.

Production of logs (for paper, cellulose and for other uses), at municipal level - Brazil -  2004

Source: IBGE - Diretoria de Pesquisas, Coordenação de Agropecuária, Produção da Extração Vegetal e da Silvicultura, 2004

The map above shows the ten major log-producing municipalities, considering the overall production, which is the total of wood for paper and cellulose and for other uses (furniture, construction, etc). It can be observed that the production of wood from planted forests is concentrated in the South and Southeast regions. In the North, the highlights are the municipalities of Almeirim, in Pará, and Porto Grande, in Amapá.