Abstract Local Productive Arrangements nowadays are targets for local and regional development politics. This study aimed to identify, qualify and geographically limit the municipalities that are part of a potential Local Productive Arrangement of Forestry Base in the southeast of Rio Grande do Sul. The hierarchical grouping analysis was used to identify the existence of groups and the analysis of main components to qualify them. Afterwards, industrial cluster indicators were used to quantify the specificity of a sector within a region for the formed groups. The hierarchical grouping analysis established four groups of municipalities, presenting different levels of development referring to the forestry sector. It is concluded that there is a Local Productive Arrangement of Forestry Base in the studied area limited by the municipalities of Cachoeira do Sul, Pantano Grande, Dom Feliciano, Amaral Ferrador, Encruzilhada do Sul, Piratini and Canguçu.

ABSTRACT The tobacco production requires annually a large volume of firewood used in the cure process of tobacco leaves, representing up to 10% of its production cost. An alternative is the use of agroindustry residues, such as sawdust or pellets. The objective of this study was to analyze the consumption and to characterize forestry biomass used in the tobacco cure process in farmers from Candelária, Southern Brazil, aiming the culture energetic efficiency. Forestry biomass consumption, residues formation after combustion and biomass quality were verified. In terms of available energy, the consumption for each kilogram of dry tobacco was 77.23 MJ for firewood, 61.40 MJ for sawdust and 37.51 MJ for pellets. Pellets presented the best physicochemical characteristics for use as energy, as well as the lowest consumption and the lowest organic fraction present in combustion residues.