CHILE – In a period of ten years, ranging between 2005 and 2015, Chilean Arauco managed to almost triple its production capacity. 

In 2005 Arauco acquired for USD 300 million the Dreyfus Group’s forestry assets in Argentina and Brazil. That year Arauco produced 1.85 million cubic meters (m3) of wood panels. Ten years later, the company had almost tripled its wood panel production reaching 5.27 million m3 in 2015. This impressive growth was achieved through a series of strategic acquisitions and investments.

After the purchase of the assets of Dreyfus Group, in 2009 Arauco acquires Tafisa Brazil from Sonae Group of Portugal for USD 227 million with an installed production capacity of more than 600,000 m3. Soon after, in December 2011 Arauco finalizes the acquisition of Uniboard  MDF in Moncure, North Carolina, from German Pfleiderer, for USD 62 million, and enters the US market with an installed capacity of 270 thousand cubic meters of particleboard and 330 thousand cubic meters of MDF. Arauco’s presence in the US market continued six months later with the USD 242 million acquisition of Flakeboard with seven board production plants in the United States and Canada, and a total installed capacity of 2.3 million m3 of particleboard and MDF.

The expansion continued in July 2012 when Arauco’s USD 130 million investment on a new MDP line in its Teno, Chile mill started production.

Also in February 2013, a second line of MDF started production in the Jaguariaíva, Brazil mill after an investment of USD 170 million, with an installed capacity of 500,000 m3.

After these acquisitions and investments made between 2005 and 2015 Arauco boasted an installed capacity for the production of particleboard and MDF of nearly 6 million cubic meters becoming the board manufacturer with the highest capacity in the Americas and the fourth in global capacity after Kronospan, Egger and Swiss Krono.

But Arauco’s expansion plans have not stopped. In September 2015 Arauco North America announced plans to build a new particleboard mill located in Grayling, Michigan, to produce 750,000m3/year of panels. This USD 325 million investment will be the single largest continuous particleboard press in North America, and one of the highest capacity presses in the world. Ground-breaking is estimated for late 2016, with the rollout of the first panel during the latter part of 2018.  And more recently, in November 2015, Arauco informed it has agreed a joint venture with Sonae Group. Arauco subscribed for 50% of Sonae’s Tafisa Spain, for a USD 150 million investment. Tafisa owns 10 panel mills that are distributed in Spain, Portugal, Germany and South Africa. The new venture will be named Sonae-Arauco SA and it is expected to be finalized in the first half of 2016. Sonae-Arauco’s production capacity will be about 460,000m3 of OSB, 1.45 million m3 of MDF, 2.27 million m3 of particleboard and 100,000m3 of sawn timber.

 

Arauco Wood Panel production*

* PB/MDP, MDF, Plywood, Hardboard

Source: Arauco

 

Arauco Wood Panel Production, Installed Capacity

Cubic Meters