The Federal Highway Policy (PRF) in Mato Grosso conducted an operation, “Operação Caapora” between July 2 – 8 on highway BR-174 in Comodoro.

Agents inspected 629 vehicles, of which 6.2% were seized (39 vehicles). 842m3 of illegal wood products (including charcoal) were seized.

This brought the total volume of wood seized in Mato Grosso during the first half of 2020 (ending July 8) to 5,840 cubic meters.

Compared to the 2,340 cubic meters seized during the same period in 2019, that’s an increase of 149% this year.

Mato Grosso is not the only Brazilian state that saw a significant increase in seizures of wood products during the first half of 2020.

Illegal wood seizures by the PRF in Rondônia sky-rocketed 787%. And wood seizures by SEMAS in Pará were up at least 41%.

Across the Brazilian Amazon, in just one month, an equivalent of about 700 truckloads of wood were seized.

Like this post? Have a problem with it? Have other ideas? Please leave a comment below.

TIMBERCHECK™ provides commercial wood buyers with a set of tools to conduct due diligence and evaluate the legal risks in timber supply chains. Sign up.