Argentina's wood pulp shipments to Brazil surge 42% in 2025

Brazil closed 2025 having imported 124,393 tons of chemical wood pulp from Argentina — a +41.6% jump above the long-run historical average of 87,836 tons. MDIC ComexStat data puts this as the highest annual volume ever recorded between the two countries for this product.

What might explain it

Argentina's chemical pulp industry is concentrated in Misiones province, a short overland haul from southern Brazil. That proximity gives Argentine suppliers a logistics edge over European or Asian sources when buyers want faster replenishment cycles and smaller lot sizes.

Currency dynamics are a plausible secondary driver. The peso's sustained weakness through 2024 and into 2025 compressed Argentine production costs in dollar terms, making exported pulp cheaper for Brazilian buyers paying in reais against a relatively strong dollar baseline. FX-driven competitiveness shifts of this kind tend to compress and release on a 12-to-24 month lag.

The backdrop

Brazil's paper and packaging sector has a dual structure: large integrated players like Suzano produce their own pulp, while smaller converters buy spot — and it is that downstream segment that most actively taps Argentine supply for shorter-run orders. E-commerce-driven demand for corrugated cardboard boxes kept Brazilian packaging mills busy throughout 2025, lifting call on short-fiber pulp, which is Argentina's primary export grade.

This corridor sits within a broader global pulp story. As we showed in Canada has roughly 7-folded its Brazilian wood pulp imports, the global market for cellulose was actively realigning in both directions during 2025.

Concentration risk to watch

A 42% jump in a single year raises questions about supply-chain concentration. Argentina has a history of introducing export controls during fiscal stress — disrupting flows with little warning. Companies that locked in Argentine contracts during 2025 should maintain alternative sourcing options from Chile or Uruguay as a contingency.

No 2026 YTD data is available for this corridor, which limits confidence about whether the surge reflects a new structural baseline or a concentration of orders in one or two quarters.