BRAZIL (Notifix).- The Brazilian wood panels manufacturer Berneck , one of the top players in the country, will opened on June 30 its new plant in Curitibanos (SC), with a production capacity of 500.000 cubic meters of MDF (Medium Density Fiberboard). In this first phase, the new Santa Catarina plant required an investments of R$ 350 million, within a projected total of R$ 750 million, which includes a sawmill to process 300.000 cubic meters per year to be launched later this year and a MDP (Medium Density Particleboard) line with an annual capacity of 800.000 cubic meters for the end of 2014. "Our goal with the new plant is to achieve a turnover of R$ 850 million in 2012 and R$ 1 billion in 2013," said Gilson Berneck, Berneck's CEO. With the completion of the new plant in Curitibanos and some investments in the Araucaria site, Berneck will raise its annual production capacity to 2.8 million cubic meters of wood panels. This expansion will also benefit the export sector of the company that currently sells in foreign markets 10% of production and plans to double that number. Furthermore, with the new MDF plant in Santa Catarina, Berneck, plans to triple its current production of HDF (High Density Fiberboard) in the plant in Araucaria, metropolitan region of Curitiba. The high density fiber boards, with a thickness below 6 mm, are used for backings in the furniture industry and roofing, and packaging. An increased in production from 10.000 cubic meters per month to 28.000 cubic meters per month will be possible as the unit in Araucaria will devote exclusively to HDF as all MDF production will be transferred to Curitibanos. The Berneck Curitibanos plant, that produced the 1st MDF board in late April, is a gradual ramp-up and should reach 26,000 meters cubic per month by the end of the year, which represents 60% of capacity.