Argentina holds 33 million hectares of native forests and 1.2 million hectares of cultivated forests, which make it the 3rd Latin American country with the largest surface of cultivated forests of the region. (Ministry of Industry, 2012). The industrial impregnation of wood through vacuum pressure was first implemented in our country in the year 1932, and currently there are over 100 active plants which generate an estimated production of 180.000m3 of wood related-products per year, such as beanpoles for agricultural use, poles for overhead lines, sleepers and constructional timber. Nowadays, 4 active ingredients and their formulated products are registered at the National Register of Plant Therapeutics (Registro Nacional de Terapéutica Vegetal), belonging to the National Health Service and Food Quality department (Servicio Nacional de Sanidad y Calidad Agroalimentaria, SENASA). These active ingredients are CCA, CCB, CA-B (tebuconazole and basic copper carbonate) and creosote, but only two of them are used – namely, CCA and creosote. Over the past decade, the trend has been for informal industries to disappear; also, due to the requirements and demands of the different municipalities and buyers, the existing plants have been forced to comply with a whole set of environmentally sound regulations. The industry for preserved wood products has yet to reach its full potential, as there are still many resources which are untapped - not utilized to their fullest extent. Promoting the use of preserved wood in construction, improving and enforcing quality controls and to developing the foreign market even further still pose a great challenge for the industry.

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