Portugal’s pulp and paper producer Portucel expects investment in its Mozambique project to reach $3 billion against the previously planned $2.3 billion, which would allow to increase the project’s capacity by as much as 50 percent.
Pedro Moura, CEO of Portucel Mozambique, told Reuters on Thursday that since the project was devised, technological advances in production equipment have allowed to increase the potential output and the company expected to take advantage of that.
“Production capacity could be increased by 50 percent… Overall, investment will reach $3 billion with the strongest component being the industrial” scale, Moura said about the project which is expected to start producing in 2023.
Portucel, which will retain the controlling stake in the Mozambique project, is still looking for investors to help finance the project, which envisages the planting of 40,000 ha with eucalyptus trees by the end of 2017, after a one-year delay from the initial plan due to licensing issues.
Source: Shrikesh Laxmidas, writing by Andrei Khalip for Reuters
