New mill project by Portucel Mozambique
Portucel Moçambique (a Mozambican company controlled by The Navigator Company, previously known as Portucel Soporcel) will build a pulp mill in Ile-Namarroi, in Zambézia, Mozambique.
The mill will have a production capacity of 1,500,000 tonnes per year and a biomass power generation plant. This plant, which is expected to be operational by 2023, will more than double the global pulp production capacity of The Navigator Company (currently 1,440,000 tons per year).
The new mill, located on the shore of the Indian Ocean, will mostly provide pulp to the Asian paper industry. The total investment is about US$3 billion. Portucel will finance 80% of the project, while the remaining 20% comes from the International Finance Corporation (IFC) of the World Bank group.
In 2010, approximately 173,000 hectares in the Zambézia region were granted to Portucel Mozambique to establish eucalyptus plantations. In 2011, Portucel obtained a further 183,000 hectares in the Manica province for eucalyptus plantations. These areas are currently being planted. In September 2015 Portucel Moçambique opened “the largest tree nursery in the whole of Africa” with an installed production capacity of more than 12 million plants a year.
