TIMBER RESOURCES OF NORTH AMERICA AND THE WORLD 



343 



Nonwood Forest Products Are Also 

 Important 



In the production of naval stores, Mexico ranks 

 sixth among the producing countries in the world. 

 During the period 1947-51 Mexico's output was 

 about 3 percent of the world's production of tur- 

 pentine and rosin. Except for one modern plant 

 at Guadalajara, naval stores are produced in 

 small, scattered plants. Tapping methods are 

 generally severe, and much pine timber is lost 

 because of heavy working for naval stores coupled 

 with fire and insect damage. No wood naval 

 stores are produced. During the period 1947-51 

 Mexico produced on the average 1.5 million gal- 

 lons of turpentine and 24,314 short tons of rosin. 

 About two-thirds of the turpentine and one-half 

 of the rosin produced is exported. The rosin is 

 chiefly exported to European and other Latin 

 American countries, and the turpentine to the 

 United States. 



Chicle, the natural base for chewing gum, is 

 produced from the exudation of the sapodilla 

 tree which occurs in the tropical forests of south- 

 eastern Mexico and adjacent areas in Central 

 America. The number of productive trees is 

 rapidly shrinking because of excessive and indis- 

 criminate tapping. The increasing availability of 

 synthetic substitutes for natural chicle suggests 

 that this industry will steadily decline in economic 

 importance. 



A few miscellaneous forest-product industries 

 are known to be more or less active, but data on 

 their output are lacking. These include a modern 

 wallboard plant, a few small barrel and cask 

 factories, furniture plants, and tannin extraction 

 plants. 



Timber Gut Is Thought To Exceed 

 Growth 



It is estimated that the average gross growth of 

 Mexican forests is in the neighborhood of 14 cubic 

 feet per acre per year. The total gross timber 

 growth on commercial forest land may therefore 

 approximate 700 million cubic feet. Noncom- 

 mercial forest land supports almost no merchant- 

 able timber and makes no significant contribution 

 to the usable timber growth. 



Volume losses from fire, insects, disease, shift- 

 ing agriculture, and other causes are unknown but 

 are thought to be large. Partial reports indicate 

 that dming the period 1944-53 fire destroyed 

 timber on about 105,000 acres annually. During 

 1948-52, bark beetle epidemics were reported to 

 have covered about 35,000 acres annually. As- 

 suming an average stocking of 1 ,200 cubic feet per 

 acre and a 25 percent salvage rate, these partial 

 estimates account for a loss of 125 million cubic 

 feet. A more complete accounting of such losses 



might reach 200 million cubic feet. This would 

 give a net annual growth of 500 million cubic feet 

 or less than 1 percent of the timber volume on 

 commercial forest land. 



A 1952 estimate of 700 million cubic feet for the 

 annual timber cut is considered to be realistic. If 

 the above assumptions are accepted, an annual 

 timber deficit of some 200 million cubic feet would 

 be indicated. However, estimates of commercial 

 forest area, timber volume, and growth rates vary 

 so widely as to shake confidence in the foregoing 

 calculation, even though it appears to rest on a 

 reasonable base. Of course, a considerable forest 

 area supports virgin timber, on which growth 

 about offsets mortality. When this virgin timber 

 is replaced by a young growing forest, the total 

 growth will be increased. Whether this increase 

 will place Mexican timber production on a sound 

 footing cannot be forecast at this time. 



Foreign Trade in Forest Products Is 

 Chiefly With United States 



Trade with the United States accounts for 80-90 

 percent of Mexico's total foreign trade. The 

 United States is the source of 95 percent or more 

 of Mexico's imports of forest products, and is also 

 the destination of most of Mexico's exports of 

 such products. In terms of the total value of 1953 

 trade with the United States, forest products 

 probably accounted for some 4.5 percent of Mexi- 

 can exports and 3 percent of imports. 



In 1952 Mexico's excess of wood exports (exclud- 

 ing pulp and paper products) over wood imports in 

 trade with the United States was equivalent to 

 9.5 million cubic feet of roundwood. Lumber 

 accounted for about 97 percent of the volume of 

 wood products exported to the United States and 

 83 percent of the wood volume imported from the 

 United States. In terms of roundwood equiva- 

 lents, Mexico's 1952 wood exports were about 2.1 

 percent of estimated wood production. Postwar 

 export restrictions and government production 

 controls and other factors have caused a steady 

 decline in the equivalent total volume of wood 

 shipped from Mexico to the United States as is 

 shown in the following tabulation : 



Million 



Year: cu.ft. 



1950 30 



1951 20 



1952 15 



1953 12 



1954 11 



When the value of woodpulp and its derivatives 

 and nonwood forest products are considered along 

 with the value of wood products, Mexico is a net 

 importer of forest products from the United States. 

 The value of all of these forest-product imports in 

 1953 was $20.5 million and of the corresponding 

 exports $15.5 million. 



43!t2y6 O— 58- 



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