The Portucel Soporcel group is to significantly boost its tissue capacity after announcing plans to install a new tissue machine at its Cacia pulp mill.
The €120 million investment will increase the site’s tissue capacity by 70,000tpy to 130,000tpy and will also include integrating converting capacity.
It is subject to Portuguese authorities and if the necessary conditions are met, production is expected to start during the first half of 2017.
Located in Cacia in the Aveiro district, the mill has an annual output of 320,000 tonnes of bleached eucalyptus pulp intended for processing into special papers such as high quality decor, filter, cigarette and tissue paper.
The move follows the company’s diversification into the tissue sector earlier this year when it acquired Portuguese tissue paper manufacturer AMS BR Star Paper.
This month, the company officially opened AMS’s new tissue paper production line at its plant in Vila Velha de Ródão.
This expansion project involved investment of €39m and created 70 new jobs, doubling the production capacity of the plant which is now set to increase exports by around 40%.
The new mill has increased its factory floor space from 40,000m2 to 70,000m2 and is fitted with the latest environmental technologies that will allow it to cut CO2 emissions by 22,000tpy.
With this new production line in Vila Velha de Ródão, the Portucel Soporcel group said it is asserting itself as one of Europe’s most competitive manufacturers in the tissue market, a position it will improve further with the investment in Cacia.
The group is Portugal’s third largest exporter and a leading European manufacturer of uncoated woodfree (UWF) printing and writing paper.
