With a production structure based at its industrial complexes in Setúbal, Figueira da Foz and Cacia, the Portucel Soporcel group has asserted itself as the European leader in the production of UWF paper for office use and the printing industry. These plants serve as an international benchmark in terms of their scale and high-level technology.

The Setúbal industrial site, situated in Mitrena close to the Sado estuary and just 8 km from the town of Setúbal, consists of two integrated manufacturing facilities: the mill producing bleached eucalyptus pulp (with a capacity of 510,000 tons/year), which supplies the paper production unit with around 40% of its production, guarantees an annual production and processing volume of some 280 thousand tonnes of uncoated woodfree paper.

The Setúbal pulp mill is one of the most important in Southern Europe both in size and technology. Its foremost competitive advantages are its excellent energy performance and its eco-efficiency (it is self-sufficient in energy production and thanks to its use of biomass, the mill also generates an excess, which it sells to the national grid).

Using Eucalyptus globulus from Portuguese forests as raw material, the mill employs the “kraft” process in the production of white pulp for the manufacture of high quality printing and writing paper.

The paper produced on three machines is transformed into cut-size formats (office paper and offset paper for the graphic industry) and destined primarily for the European market, where it stands out for its high quality and superior performance.

The industrial activities of this site take place within a framework of a continuous development programme aimed at operational efficiency and environmental performance through large-scale investments and reorganisation and optimisation processes.

Situated at the Lavos Industrial Site in Figueira da Foz, this is one of Europe’s most efficient pulp and paper production units. Guaranteeing an annual production and processing volume of 770 thousand tons of uncoated woodfree paper, it is one of the largest industrial units in Europe.

Since its inauguration in 1984, this industrial unit has been equipped with cutting edge technology. With the installation of a second state-of-the-art paper machine in 2000, the Figueira da Foz mill consolidated its status as a benchmark for the European uncoated woodfree paper industry.

From forest to paper, operation of the Figueira da Foz mill is vertically integrated, with some 555 thousand tons of bleached eucalyptus kraft pulp passing through its production process.

The pulp produced is totally integrated in the manufacture of uncoated printing and writing paper. Almost all the paper produced is transformed internally into sheets for the graphics industry (large formats) and sheets for office use (A4 and A3).

Situated in the centre of Portugal, 8 km from Aveiro, the Cacia mill is at the heart of the country’s largest area of eucalyptus forest. The proximity of this raw material is a key advantage on which the unit has succeeded, enhancing its competitiveness in capitalising in terms of competitivity and product value.

Its production of 272 thousand tons/year of pulp designed for special applications, which are highly prized by the demanding clients of central Europe, is a justified reason for its employees’ pride.

The Cacia mill has already achieved a consolidated position at international level in market segments such as décor papers, coated papers and tissue papers.

It was at the Cacia mill back in 1957 that paper pulp using the Kraft process was produced from eucalyptus for the first time at world level, an innovative spirit that has proved a constant feature of an industrial unit that has succeeded in capitalising on know–how accumulated over the decades.