USE OF TREND IMPACT ANALYSIS AFFECTS PROJECTIONS OF EUCALYPTUS CULTIVATION IN BRAZIL

Abstract

Eucalyptus forestry is an important source of competitive advantage for Brazil and, since eucalyptus is a basic raw material for industrial segments that are undergoing great expansion, monitoring the growth rate of cultivated area is increasingly relevant.This study resorted to Trend Impact Analysis (TIA) to forecast the planting of eucalyptus in Brazil’s reforested areas, adjusting the linear regression of historical data in the light of three events that were under way or that will probably influence the trend: timber funds, the world financial crisis and Biomass to Liquid (BTL) technology.The results allow one to infer that, in the short term, eucalyptus cultivation will expand at a rate similar to that of the linear curve, adversely affected by the world crisis and positively affected by timber funds.By 2016, however, the expansion of eucalyptus plantations is expected, largely because of the commercial scale of BTL technology.Key words: Trend Impact Analysis. Eucalyptus. Future Studies.