Rodolfo Contardo Schmidt, regional director of PymeMad Biobío-Ñuble, and Fernando Rosselot Tellez, regional director of PymeMad Maule, represented the timber association in the trade mission organized by ProChile in Guatemala City from November 24 to 27, 2025.

The Chilean delegation participated in a business roundtable that brought together national companies with importers from Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Costa Rica, Panama, and the Dominican Republic. The event, held at the Marriott Courtyard/Forum Convention Center, included technical visits to key logistics infrastructure, networking with Central American entrepreneurs, and meetings with Guatemalan public and private authorities.

On their first day, the leaders visited Puerto Quetzal and the free trade zones Zona Libre Quetzal and Michatoya Pacífico, strategic logistics hubs for international trade. "This demonstrates that attractive, high-investment business models can be created when there are regulatory certainties and a long-term vision, both at the public and private levels," highlighted Contardo Schmidt, who is also the general manager of Concon Maderas Impregnadas, a family-owned company with over 30 years of experience in impregnated wood.

Meanwhile, Rosselot Tellez —from Maderas Prosperidad Ltda., a Maule-based company with more than 45 years in the sector and operations in Peru— stated that "we were able to see a port with extensive infrastructure, modern and fast. We are quoting freight and costs to determine the price of our products delivered here," demonstrating the practical focus of the mission to evaluate specific business opportunities.

PymeMad's participation in this international event reaffirms the association's commitment to opening new markets for Chilean small and medium-sized timber enterprises, extending their commercial reach to Central America and the Caribbean.