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South America, Russia on the pulp path
A report from New York-based Gerson Lehman says that five major new kraft pulp mills are slated for Brazil and Russia with start-ups scheduled for 2012, 13 and 14. Analyst Dave Hillman says that a new Brazilian company called Eldorado plans a 3000-t/d BEK mill in Matto Grosso do Sul. ChileÕs CMPC announced a new 1.1 million tonne/y at its Guiba mill, recently bought from Fibria. It is currently a 600,000- tonne/year mill which had been operated as Riocell. These mills will start up in about 28 months. Suzano Pulp & Paper has confirmed its intentions to build two new BEK mills each costing $US1.3 billion, one in the State of Maranhao and the other in the State of Piaui. These mills are projected to start up in 2013 and 2014. Another expansion whose announcement is anticipated shortly is that at the Veracell mill Ñ jointly owned by Fibria and Stora Enso and which currently produces almost 1 million tonnes/year. The new pulp line will double the millÕs capacity. Brazilian BEK is particularly appreciated by those producers of premium quality facial tissue (i.e. P&G and KC) where the eucalyptus is layered on the surface to produce tactile softness. This is a growing product line in many emerging countries and it is incumbent on Brazilian mills to maintain sufficient supply for all the new tissue machines under construction. Already under construction is the jv in Uruguay between Stora Enso and Arauco. This mill will produce both BEK and softwood from Radiata pine. In Russia, Ilim Holdings, a jv between International Paper and the Ilim Group has just announced a 700,000 tonne/year softwood kraft mill at Bratsk; the cost is put at about $US720 million. Hillman says that most of the production is destined for the Chinese market whose big new paper machines require a strong softwood fiber in order to operate properly at design speeds. It now appears all new market pulp mills will be in the 1.1-1.3 million tonne/y capacity range, will cost between $US1.3 and 1.5 billion and require about 28 months to get into production once ground is broken. It has been estimated that 20-25% of the cost will be spent to satisfy all the various environmental requirements. www.glgroup.com |
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