ITTO project improves efficiency and competitiveness of Brazil’s wood flooring industry

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25 September 2013

A worker in Brazil gluing small wooden pieces together to produce wood flooring. Photo: R. Carrillo/ITTO

In 2011, ITTO financed the project PD 433/06, “Sustainable model for the Brazilian wood flooring production chain”, which is now nearing completion.
 
The project, executed by the National Hardwood Flooring Association of Brazil (ANPM), has delivered promising results which are making the country’s wood flooring industry more efficient and competitive. One of the main outputs of the project is the utilization of lesser used timber species (LUS) in the production of wood flooring, including:

  • Angelim vermelho - Dinizia excelsa Ducke
  • Itaúba amarela - Mezilaurus lindaviana Schwacke & Mez
  • Cedrinho - Erisma uncinatum Warm.
  • Cupiúba - Goupia glabra Aubl.
  • Pequiá - Caryocar villosum (Aubl.) Pers.
  • Angelim da mata - Hymenolobium excelsum Ducke
  • Maparajuba - Manilkara bidentada (A. DC.) A. Chev.
  • Timborana - Piptadenia gonoacantha (Mart.) J.F.Macbr.
  • Sucupira amarela - Bowdichia nitida Spruce ex Benth.
  • Tachi preto - Tachigali myrmecophyla (Ducke) Ducke
  • Tanibuca folha pequena - Buchenavia parvifolia Ducke
  • Mandioqueira escamosa - Qualea paraensis Ducke
  • Castanha sapucaia - Lecythis usitata Miers
  • Jarana amarela - Lecythis poiteaui O.Berg
 
Another important output is a quality certification programme for the wood flooring industry, as well as proposals for better residue management throughout the production chain. These proposals include practical solutions for maximizing the use of wood in the production chain, from better harvesting, sawing and drying of timber, to the use of small wooden pieces or timber tiles for the manufacture of a  new line of wood flooring products.
 
The project has also proposed ways to use other residues or off-cuts that could not be used for flooring, including for the manufacture of small wooden items and handicrafts, briquettes, energy generation, compost, and the production of wood extracts.
ANPM is disseminating these results to all stakeholders involved in the wood flooring production chain, with a video to be released during the 1st Amazon Forestry Fair (1a Feria Florestal da Amazonia) to be held in Belem, 24-27 September 2013.

Video

For more information on this project, please visit www.pimads.org or contact ITTO (carrillo@itto.int).
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