The richer the country, the more attractive the market?

At a global level, forest products consumption appears to follow one of the most general empirical rules whereby the richest consumes the most. When applied to countries, the rule changes into the wealthier the nation, the higher the timber consumption. The macroeconomic data confirms such trend, where the volume of timber consumption of a given country is noticeably related to its Gross Domestic Product. Figure 1 illustrates this trend, with some dispersion explained by different cultures, habits of using wood, marketing, tastes and history in the various countries. Such observation, which matches the intuition, may be related to the common myth that economic development automatically comes from selling products with the highest added value; earning the highest income from exporting the most advanced or expensive products; or being the most competitive by producing the highest quality goods. This article discusses a more nuance approach, taking into account the different realities regarding tropical and temperate forest products.