Our History
In 2022, Abimci completed five decades of defending the interests of its associates. A story deeply related to the events and cultural changes that occurred during this period in Brazil and in the world.
When founded in the 1970s, the country was experiencing a growth phase and the execution of large public works, with this there was a great demand for concrete forms. At the time, some companies already made plywood made with araucaria wood available to the market for the manufacture of molds. In order to make the segment more organized and formalized, they got together, in the city of São Paulo (SP), and founded on July 18, 1972, the Abimce (Brazilian Association of Special Plywood Industry).
In the years that passed, the associated companies boosted the development of the timber industry in the north of the country and the consequent internationalization of the sector. With the industrialization of tropical wood, especially in the center of the city of Belém (PA), exports were gaining momentum, mostly to the European continent. It was during this period that Abimce started to gain more representation and, due to all the movement that occurred in the region, in 1992, it held in Manaus (AM), the 1st International Congress of Tropical Wood Plywood. The event, which brought together more than 150 company directors, was considered a milestone in the history of the Association because it made it possible to share the dreams of what was desired for its future. Among them were the standardization of products and the entry of companies from other segments into the membership.
In the early 1990s, the supply of araucaria began to show signs of diminishing, with this, companies experienced a challenging cycle of development of pine plywood and its consequent standardization, after all, what we had until then was a quality standard , known worldwide for its araucaria plywood. It was at this time that the Association developed the PNQM (National Wood Quality Program). Its launch was a major turning point for the entity because it was a response by the Brazilian industry to foreign pressures in relation to product quality. The standardization of products, made possible thanks to the PNQM, made the market more professional and competitive, in a win-win relationship for both the productive sector and consumers, who now had references to what they were buying.
It was in that decade that Abimce began a new cycle with the arrival of other product segments to the entity and had its first statutory amendment, changing its name to Abimci (Brazilian Association of the Plywood and Industrialized Wood Industry). At that time, the national standardization of wood products by ABNT (Brazilian Association of Technical Standards) was already gaining momentum and Abimci became the manager of CB-31 (Wood Committee). This was an important step, which enabled the development of technical standards by product segment. In 1998, further expanding discussions and representativeness, Abimci had its second statutory amendment, changing its name to the Brazilian Association of the Mechanically Processed Wood Industry, the name it still uses today.
With a close eye on the market and its technical requirements, in 2003, Abimci entered into a partnership with BM Trada and became the managing entity of the CE Marking certification process and representative of the certifying body in Brazil for plywood panels. As a result, it experienced an important cycle of growth, with greater numbers of associates, improvement of its management structure and representativeness.
Parallel to the consolidation of the PNQM certification and expansion of recognition of the Brazilian product, Abimci started one of the most important actions, and which continues to operate until today, the meetings of the Product Committees. These sectoral meetings are increasingly strategic for the associated companies, subsidizing them with information for decision-making in relation to the market.
Another technical and interest-defence action was another step in the Association’s history with the creation of the PSQ-PME (Sectorial Program for the Quality of Wooden Doors for Buildings) in 2012. It brought procedures for the production process and standardization for the doors wood that now meet current technical standards.
Over the last ten years, Abimci has maintained its focus on stimulating the standardization of products, providing all the technical support to its associates and also building a close relationship with all of them, which has provided an understanding of the demands and the construction of an open dialogue with national and international sector entities, government agencies, scientific research institutes, universities, industry federations, among others. This form of representativeness is seen as the path to be followed in this and in the future administrations of the entity, after all, it allows Abimci to leverage the evolution of the sector, develop markets, win important disputes and, especially, place wood products in an uncontested position of benefits for society and, consequently, for the environment.