Duratex will invest r $ 1.3 billion in new unit in MG

SÃO PAULO-Duratex, manufacturer of wooden panels, sanitary vitreous Chinaware and metal fittings, announced investments of r $ 1.3 billion for the construction of the largest industrialised wooden panels unit of Latin America. The contribution will be made with own resources and financing by the Banco Nacional de Desenvolvimento Econômico e Social (BNDES).
Located in Minas Gerais, in the Triângulo Mineiro, will feature two production lines (MDP and MDF), which will add an effective capacity of 1.4 million cubic meters per year. The new unit will expand the total capacity of the company to 5.6 million cubic meters per year, representing a growth of 34%.
In fact submitted to the Securities and Exchange Commission (CVM) the company explains that the lines shall be assembled consecutively, which represents important cost reduction. According to the company, the lines will be in operation, respectively, in the second half of 2016 and 2017. As Duratex, the investment is necessary to meet the market from 2017.
"This investment complements the material fact released in April 2011, when we announce two new factories of wooden panels," recalls the company. The first, of 520 thousand cubic meters per year located in Itapetininga, went into operation in the third quarter of 2013 and the second, of 680 thousand cubic meters per year, will be replaced by two new lines.
Erected on a plateau within the New Mount Carmel farm, forest area already in the Duratex, which has 38 thousand hectares of eucalyptus plantations in 52 thousand hectares of total area, the new industrial unit will establish the lowest average distance known among forest and factory in the world, equal to 35 quilõmetros, when both lines are in full operation.
According to the company, the new lines, with ability to dispatch 700 thousand cubic meters per year each, will have individually the largest size of continuous lines installed in the world and will generate 450 direct jobs. The factory, with the potential to be expanded, will feature an Impregnator and three lines of jackets, which add value to the products and diversify the supply of standard panels. "These lines, when completed, and after ramp-up process, generate an increment of approximately r $ 1.3 billion in net annual revenue, considering current prices and planned sales mix," according to the company.
Forests
The company informs that to ensure 100% of raw material supply and ensure low cost and freight for the new plant and to the current industrialised wooden panels factory of Uberaba (MG), Duratex acquired the totality of the forests belonging to Caxuana Ltda. Are 30 thousand hectares of leased land for a period of 39 yearswith 21 thousand hectares of plantation of pinus and eucalyptus, located between the new unit and the plant of Uberaba.
This investment, to the tune of r $ 150 million, will be paid mostly with the delivery of 5,600 hectares of land owned by Duratex in São Paulo, being leased by the company itself, also for a period of 39 years, the market value. "The sale of these lands will increase the net income of Duratex in approximately r $ 30 million in this quarter", the company estimated.
Duratex highlights that the investment will bring important synergies and implies immediate and permanent freight cost reduction in the plant supply of Uberaba, which represents 25% of current production capacity.
With the acquisition of the forests of Caxuana, Duratex is replaced, in the region of the Triângulo Mineiro, 107 thousand hectares of leased land, being 74 thousand hectares of planted areas with eucalyptus and pinus.