genera Bactris and Astrocaryum, are used for fishing 
lines and nets. 
family, notably aramina or guaxima (Urena lobata) 
and malva (Sida spp.). furnish tough fibers used 
for coffee sacks and as a substitute for jute. 
Several shrubs of the Malvaceae 
Ropes 
are made from the long tough fibers of carod 
(Neoglaziovia variegata), a stemless bromeliad, which 
covers large areas of the dry Northeast. The annual 
production of fibers ranged between 26,000 and 
35,000 metric tons in recent years, nearly all from 
the Northeast Region and western Bahia. 
Oil Seeds 
In 1961 Brazil collected 190,375 metric tons of oil 
seeds from forest trees, nearly all in the Northeast 
Region (table 15). 
from babassu palms. 
(Astrocaryum murumurum), the last a low-growing 
palm of Para, furnished lesser quantities of fruit 
containing palm oils used for soap and margarine. 
Second in importance. with 60,019 metric tons in 
1961, was the fruit of oiticica (Licania rigida), a 
tall tree of the rose family. The oil produced from 
its fruit is similar to tung oil. Oil extraction from 
the seeds of ucutba and andiroba is an important 
industry in northeastern Brazil. 
About two-thirds of this came 
Licuri, tucum, and murumuru 
Essential Oils 
Rosewood essence is extracted from pau rosa by 
distillation in several plants on the lower Amazon 
River. In the forest, the branches and tree trunks 
are chopped with axes into pieces about 3 feet in 
length and hauled by boat or truck to the distilleries. 
Recovery of the essence is about | percent of the 
Output in 1961 totaled 221 metric 
All but a small part came from plants in 
wood by weight. 
tons. 
Amazonas. Sassafras oil is derived from Ocotea 
pretiosa, one of the numerous laurels of the bread- 
The 146 
sassafras oil plants, all but one in Santa Catarina, 
produced 372 tons of oil in 1961. 
of both pau rosa and sassafras oil has fluctuated 
leaf forests of the southern States of Brazil. 
The yearly output 
sharply during recent years. Small quantities of 
eucalyptus oil are also produced in a few plants in 
the southern States. 
Kapok 
Brazil produces annually between 300 and 500 
metric tons of Kapok, mostly in Bahia and Minas 
Gerais. 
tained in the capsules constituting the fruit of the 
Kapok is the flossy cottonlike fiber con- 
two closely related trees Chorisia insignis and Ceiba 
pentandra. 
SELF-SUFFICIENCY IN FOREST PRODUCTS 
_ Brazil is self-sufficient in wood products except for 
-woodpulp and paper. It depends on imports for 
about one-third of its consumption of woodpulp and 
paper and for its supply of some nonwood forest 
_ products such as naval stores, cork, and certain gums 
-and resins. Although Brazil has the resources to 
become the world’s largest supplier of tropical broad- 
leaf (hardwood) products, lack of roads in the interior 
-and insufficient demand have probably been the 
| chief factors which prevented development of broad- 
_leaf-using industries. With about 20 percent of the 
world’s tropical broadleaf forests, Brazil supplied 
less than | percent by volume of the tropical broad- 
leaf logs and lumber sold on the world market in 
1959 and 1960. During 1959-61, broadleaf prod- 
pets accounted for only 5 percent of the value of 
mols total forest products exports. 
— During 1954-58 apparent consumption of indus- 
trial wood averaged 413 million cubic feet annually, 
FORESTS AND FOREST INDUSTRIES OF BRAZIL 
equivalent to about 95 percent of production (table 
16). In all years since 1954 the roundwood equiva- 
lent of products exported exceeded that of products 
imported, but the value of imports, largely pulp and 
paper, tended to be slightly higher than that of 
exports. The expansion program of the pulp and 
paper industry has reduced imports somewhat since 
1957; further reductions may follow as the capacity 
of the pulp and paper industry increases. 
Although Brazilian consumption estimates are 
based on poor knowledge of total wood production. 
and consumption varies widely in different parts of 
the country, the per capita estimates indicate low 
industrial wood and high fuelwood consumption 
(table 17). Per capita consumption of industrial 
wood is one-ninth, but fuelwood consumption is five 
times that of the United States. 
of industrial wood products such as lumber, plywood. 
Consumption rates 
and paper are near the averages for South America 
but far below those of the United States. 
