The Portucel Soporcel group announced that Portucel Moçambique will inaugurate the largest tree nursery in Africa this September, with an initial capacity of 12 million trees per year, a number which may be doubled in 2016.

The trees in this nursery will be produced in accordance with globally accepted best practices; in addition, they represent an important contribution to the forestation efforts being made by Portucel in Mozambique.

In order to become more fully aware of the workings of the Portucel Soporcel Group, the President of Mozambique, Filipe Nyusi, accepted the invitation to visit the Industrial Complex in Setúbal where he was shown the modern and sophisticated production processes of a company that, in addition to being one of the largest foreign investors in Mozambique is the European leader and sixth largest producer in the world of fine uncoated woodfree (UWF) printing and writing paper as well as the largest European producer and fifth largest worldwide of Bleached Eucalyptus Kraft Pulp (BEKP).

As part of the company’s strategy for international growth, the Group is proud to announce Portucel Moçambique’s partnership with the World Bank in developing an important vertically integrated forestry investment project which will culminate in the construction of a paper pulp production plant in the African country, an investment valued at $2.6 billion (€2.1 billion). Once forestry operations are solidly underway, the company plans to build a eucalyptus paper pulp plant in the country by 2023, which will bring commercial benefits to Mozambique and will contribute to its industrial and agricultural development. 

The Portucel Moçambique forestry project will be set up in the provinces of Manica and Zambezia, covering an area of 356,000 hectares and providing 7,000 jobs. Forestry being one of the largest economic sectors in Mozambique after the mining sector, this project will have a considerable impact on the development of the agricultural and business fabric of the two provinces as it will also create a significant number of indirect jobs within the companies in partnership with Portucel Moçambique.