This document discusses pine tapping in South America and challenges facing the pine oleoresin industry. It notes that pine tapping is primarily based on large forest owners and supported by medium forest owners with short forest rotations of less than 15 years. It provides production statistics for Brazil, Argentina, and plans for Uruguay, then discusses challenges including natural versus planted forests, tapping techniques, and mechanization to increase labor efficiency and reduce workforce needs.

2. ... and what about the future of “pine tapping”
in South America.
• Based on big forest owners.
• Supported by medium size forest owners (100 to 1,000 hectares).
• Short forest rotation (< 15 years?).
• Better understanding of how the pine tree produces crude gum
(oleoresinosis).
• Less intervention.
• Planting for crude gum production (?).
• Mechanization.

3. Pine Oleo Resin Production in South America
BRAZIL
P. elliottii var. Elliottii
P. caribaea var. Caribaea
P. caribaea var. Hondurensis
P. caribaea var. Bahamensis
P. oocarpa
120.000 Tons of Pine Oleo Resin / year
~ 16 Gum Rosin Plants
ARGENTINA
P. elliottii var. Elliottii 25.000 Tons of Pine Oleo Resin / year
3 Gum Rosin Plants
URUGUAY
P. elliottii var. Elliottii Initiating Pine Oleo Resin production in
2014.

4. Chalenges Facing our Industry in South America
and all over the World!
NATURAL VERSUS PLANTED FORESTS
• Natural (low density / slow growing) versus Planted (high density / fast growing).
• Huge initiall investment.
• Very good knowledge of what and where to plant.
PINE TAPPING TECHNIQUE
• We have been doing the same for decades (or centuries)!
HAND LABOUR VERSUS MECHANIZATION
• Labour efficiency from a few tons to 25 tons of Pine Oleo Resin produced per worker
per year depending on the location of the operation.
• To produce 1.000.000 tons of Pine Oleo Resin per year in the best scenario we need
around 40.000 workers, in the worst scenario (poor and inefficient tappint technique)
the number rises to some hundred of thousand!

6. THANK YOU!