In commodity export-based economies the development of innovation capacities is a recent phenomenon that is pushing companies to make changes in their industrial processes. In order to describe the particular dynamics in primary wood industry, an innovation survey was conducted among 30 companies. The study results revealed that innovation efforts are individual and non-associative, based on acquisition and not on research and development of technological solutions, and there is a lack of a knowledge infrastructure that supports innovation activities. As outcomes of innovation efforts, companies achieve process optimization, quality improvements, organizational learning and market share growth.