Chilean pulp and paper producer Compañía Manufacturera de Papeles y Cartones (CMPC) has signed a letter of intent with Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil, to build a pulp mill in the state with a planned investment of 24 billion Reais ($4.6 billion), the company announced.
The planned mill will be located 15 kilometers from the city of Barra do Ribeira and will have the capacity to produce up to 2.5 million tonnes per year of bleached short-fiber kraft pulp (BHKP). The company currently owns about 280,000 hectares of planted area in the state.
The project, named Natureza, will be submitted for approval by the board of directors in mid-2026.
If approved, construction of the mill will require an investment of $420 million in infrastructure works and $150 million for the development of a new port terminal in Rio Grande, according to CMPC.
The company also said there is potential for further expansion, noting that any updates will maintain high standards of environmental protection, efficiency and quality.
CMPC, which has operated in the country since 2009, has begun the processes for licensing the project and the future unit with the Henrique Luis Roessler State Environmental Protection Foundation (Fepam), a technical body of the Rio Grande do Sul State Environmental Protection System (Sisepra).
In Guaíba, in the metropolitan region of Porto Alegre, CMPC can produce about 2 million tonnes per year of eucalyptus pulp.
In 2021, it began investing 2.75 billion Reais to modernize its operations in Guaíba with the BioCMPC project. The project, which focused on sustainability and operational efficiency, added 350,000 tpy of fiber capacity at the site.
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