CORRECTED - Chile wood pulp exports hit record 1st half high

(Corrects source throughout, making clear figures are from BCI and not from the government)

SANTIAGO, July 24 (Reuters) - The value of Chile's wood pulp exports hit an all-time record $1.016 billion in the first half of 2007, local brokerage BCI Investments said in a report on the industry on Tuesday, adding it expected pulp prices to keep rising.

It said the export figure for the six months from January through June was 93.7 percent higher than in the same period a year earlier, as prices soared and Chilean output grew.

"Wood pulp prices have beaten all market expectations ..." BCI Investments said in the report, adding that a predicted stabilization in prices in July had failed to materialize.

"We see possible new highs for prices in the coming weeks," it said.

Chile is the world's fifth largest exporter of wood pulp, with the United States, China and Japan the main destinations for its product.

The country's most important national producers are Copec COP.SN and CMPC CAR.SN.