Klabin approves R $ 9.1 billion for expansion project Construction and Real Estate

Klabin's board of directors, the country's largest producer of packaging papers, approved yesterday the execution of the company's new growth cycle, named Project Puma II, with investments of R $ 9.1 billion. Disbursements will occur between this year and 2023 and, of the budgeted amount, R $ 900 million are recoverable taxes.

According to Klabin, the project involves the installation of two pulp mills integrated into pulp production at the Ortigueira (PR) plant, where Klabin already produces 1.6 million tons of different types of pulp per year - this volume will continue to be sold on the market. The total capacity of the new machines will be 920 thousand tons per year of kraftliner paper.

The project will be implemented in two stages. In the first phase, a non-bleached pulp production line will be built integrated with a white kraftliner and kraftliner paper machine, with a capacity of 450 thousand tons per year. These papers will be marketed under the Eukaliner brand. The second stage includes the construction of a complementary cellulose line integrated with a kraftliner machine with a capacity of 470 thousand tons per year.

Works at each stage are expected to last 24 months and the start of operation of the first machine is scheduled for the second quarter of 2021. The second machine will be operational in the second quarter of 2023. According to Klabin, two-thirds of the disbursements will be concentrated between 2019 and 2021, since most of the equipment will be installed in the first stage of the project.

According to the company, the project will be financed by its own cash and cash generation of existing businesses, "and can be complemented with financing, provided the conditions are attractive in terms of cost and term."

Klabin also announced the synergy with the existing industrial and forestry operations in the region and the company's "commercial positioning in the global packaging paper market favor the implementation of Puma II." "The two new paper machines will reflect Klabin's technological and cost competitiveness, using a forest-based benchmark in productivity and proximity to industrial assets," the company said.

During the works, the project will generate up to 9 thousand jobs. After the start of production, there will be 1,500 employees, between direct and indirect.