The wood pulp and paper sector has become one of the most important segments of the forest industry in Brazil. Knowledge on production relationships and the technology characteristics can bring in important information for the sector. The main objective of the present work was to specify and fit the production function of wood pulp for the Brazilian industry, in 2004, on the basis of the production theory and using a Cobb-Douglas model with land, labor and capital as explanatory variables. The estimates showed that the explanatory variables significantly affected the wood pulp production. The results, using least squares method (LQO), indicated that the production factors are being rationally used in the Brazilian wood pulp industry; the pulp industry showed constant returns to scale; land and labor make up the most important factors in the formation of wood pulp production; and the companies are capital intensive.
Production function; wood pulp; forest sector
