Taken from Diario Pro&Contra, Iquitos, April 2, 2004
On April 1st of this year, the Mexican Enterprise Group Perroni installed offices in Iquitos in order to directly work with the small and medium sized timber harvesters in the Loreto region. Support, for the saw mill and other operations, has been promised to these groups in order to increase timber exportation of the cumala tree (Virola sp), according to the information given to Perroni\’s manager in Iquitos, Benjamín Baca Ruiz.
In 2002, Perroni purchased three and a half million board feet of cumala in the Loreto region; in 2003, this figure doubled due to the cumala boom, and in 2004 they hope to purchase eight million board feet of the same species. \”We are harvesting an average of one million board feet of cumala every two months, valued at a million dollars,\” affirmed Benjamín Baca.
The company initiated its activities ten years ago in the Loreto region buying intermediate timber, principally cumala, cedar, and mahogany. As of April 1st, although means varied, the timber was purchased directly. \”What we are offering is sawed timber, we support the mill as well as other operations so that they will sell us the value added timber and therefore obtain a better income, we promise to pay when they offer us the timber,\” indicated Baca Ruiz.
Perroni was founded 55 years ago in Mexico and ten years ago in Peru, and works with forest extractors in Pucallpa, Lima, Satipo, but mainly in Loreto. \”We hope that a commercial agreement between Peru and Mexico will permit the catalogue of products to increase and that we may export more species such as lagarto caspi and marupa. This last on is attractive but is not included in the commercial agreement, taking it requires payment of an 18% tariff on top of the cost in Mexico,\” he said.
The internal price of cumala wood is fixed based on quality, 460 for highest quality and 320 for second quality per thousand feet put on the ENAPU wharf. Cedar prices are subject to direct dialogues with the suppliers. In a six-month period, Perroni has anticipated the installation of an industrial plant around Iquitos with the latest drying furnace technology, which implies the extraction of alternative species that need to be perpetuated in the forest.
ParksWatch-Peru, April 2004