This past week Klabin, Brazil's largest paper producer and exporter and a global manufacturer of paper and board for packaging, inaugurated its new pulp mill located in Ortigueira, Paraná. The Puma Unit represents an important mark in the company’s new growth cycle. With the new mill, Klabin becomes a fiber solutions company by being the only one in Brazil to produce, at the same plant, bleached pulp from hardwood fibers, bleached pulp from softwood fibers, and fluff pulp.

 

"It’s imperative for a country of continental dimensions, like Brazil, to have a solid and competitive industrial sector. And Klabin shares this vision. It’s at the core of our corporate DNA," said Galvão during the inauguration ceremony. According to Israel Klabin, who also sits on the company’s board, "the project that most inspires us is the one to develop sustainably. The one to create an environment of stability that allows us to think further ahead and benefit a greater number of stakeholders."

The highest private-sector investment ever made in the state of Paraná, the project required a total investment of R$8.5 billion, including infrastructure and recoverable taxes, and construction was completed in 24 months and within the initial budget.The Puma Unit will have an annual production capacity of 1.5 million metric tons of pulp, with 1.1 million metric tons of bleached hardwood pulp (eucalyptus) and 400,000 metric tons of bleached softwood pulp (pine), a portion of which will be converted into fluff pulp.With power generation capacity of 270 MW avg. and 150 MW of surplus power, which is sufficient to supply a city with a population of 500,000, the new operation further improves Klabin’s electricity self-sufficiency.The Puma Unit reinforces Klabin’s commitment to best sustainability practices by combining high forest productivity, efficient production and logistics operations, and last-generation environmental technology.

"Puma is a Brazilian experience in excellence and boldness that we hope will serve as an example for the country that we want for our children and grandchildren. It reinforces Klabin’s already globally recognized commitment to the environment. And it shows that you can invest in projects that are concerned with social aspects, with this concern translated into dozens of projects involving health, education, housing, and recreation," said Schvartsman during the ceremony.

Klabin’s hardwood pulp is marketed under the brand LyptusCel™, while its softwood pulp was christened PineCel™. Called PineFluff™, Klabin’s fluff pulp, which for the first time in Brazil is produced on a large scale from softwood pulp, gives the domestic market the possibility of substituting imports of this raw material, which is an important input in the manufacture of diapers, disposable sanitary pads, and other absorbent products.

The new mill’s operations were commissioned in March, with production of the first pulp bale, which already held Chain of Custody certification from FSC® - Forest Stewardship Council (FSC-C129105). April marked the mill’s first shipment, with 20,000 tons of hardwood pulp departing the Port of Paranaguá destined for China. To export production from the Puma Unit, Klabin developed a Logistics Unit in Paranaguá that allows for the use of rail and highway freight solutions. With this new structure, the company expects to distribute 1 million metric tons of pulp every year. More than 90% of the mill’s production has already been sold.

With a built-up area of 200 hectares, which is equivalent to 200 football fields, the construction project involved around 40,000 workers.In all phases of the project, the company prioritized the use of local labor. Today, the new unit is responsible for 1,400 direct and indirect jobs, considering both the industrial and forestry operations, and contributes to the local community through social actions, vocational training programs, and projects to promote regional development. During the investment phase, R$700 million in taxes were generated, and with its startup, the mill will generate annual tax receipts of R$300 million.

To determine its social investments, in 2012, Klabin conducted a social diagnosis of the municipalities of Ortigueira, Imbaú, and Telêmaco Borba, which represents the new mill’s direct area of influence.Through a broad participatory process that involved the many different stakeholders in urban and rural areas, it developed the Puma Project’s Social and Environmental Action Plan, which comprises various initiatives in the areas of health, education, culture, recreation, the environment, family farming, etc.

The plan’s infrastructure projects included paving roads in the districts of Campina and Minuano, improvements to the strategic road and building a new bridge to connect the left and right banks of the Tibagi River. Klabin also built a 23.5-km rail branch connecting the mill to the Central do Paraná Railroad. The average distance between forest area and the Puma Unit is 72 km, assuring the mill a high level of competitiveness. Klabin’s forestry operation in the Telêmaco and Ortigueira region, which is one of the world’s largest, supplies both its Monte Alegre and Puma units. Klabin built 100 km of power transmission lines for the new mill, which features the world’s two largest power generation turbines to be manufactured for the pulp and paper industry.