The Portuguese Forest Based Chains: Sector Analyses

Abstract

The present chapter describes and analyses the context of the productive chains based on Portuguese forest. The description focuses in the macroeconomic relevance and in the production flows of the Portuguese forest sector. The characterization of the productive chains is based on the aggregation of the forest sector in three main categories. The first category is composed by chains with historic activity in Portugal, including wood for furniture and construction, wood for pulp, paper and paperboard, and the cork based chain. The second category, termed emerging chains, includes economic activities that only recently are viewed as integrated chains, from raw material up to the end product. The chains based on chestnuts and pine nuts are included in this category. Forest biomass for energy is also considered as an emerging chain, mainly because of its new context and strategy, in connection with climate change and energy policies. A perspective of other potentials, based on forest ecosystems, is also presented in terms of a sector analysis approach. For each chain, the explanation follows a sequence where production and markets are first analyzed followed by a description of the characteristics of labour and enterprises. The dominant characteristics of the ecosystems supplying raw-material for industrial transformation are also analyzed.

Express the author opinion, not the World Bank position