World class pulp mill in central Uruguay

By Pittaluga Abogados

On July 23, 2019, Finnish forest industry company UPM announced the investment decision to construct a 2,1 million tonne greenfield eucalyptus pulp mill near Paso de los Toros in central Uruguay. The highly competitive mill investment of USD 2,7 billion will grow UPM’s current pulp capacity by more than 50%, resulting in a step change in the scale of UPM’s pulp business as well as in UPM’s future earnings. Additionally, UPM will invest USD 350 million in port operations in Montevideo and local facilities in Paso de los Toros. The mill is scheduled to start up in the second half of 2022.

“During the past decade UPM has developed additional plantation areas in Uruguay and created a market driven pulp business with wide customer base in growing end uses. At the same time, we have consistently improved our financial performance and achieved a truly industry leading balance sheet. We are now in an excellent position to take this transformative step and capture the opportunities of attractive, growing markets in a sustainable and highly competitive way,” said Jussi Pesonen, President and CEO of UPM.