Industry Leaders at Brazil Conference Report Movement toward Biotechnology
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Brazilian pulp and paper exports fell this year due to effects of the international economic crisis. However, despite predictions that the market downturn will continue, the Brazilian pulp and paper industry continues to invest in research and development of new forest-based products and uses that will reduce impacts from future crises in the pulp market.
This was one of the conclusions reached by leaders of the pulp and paper companies during the ABTCP 2012 – 45th Pulp and Paper International Congress & Exhibition recently conducted in Sao Paulo, Brazil, by the ABTCP (Brazilian Technical Pulp and Paper Association), in coordination with Tecnicelpa (Portuguese Association of Technical Pulp and Paper Industries) and Riadicyp (Ibero-American Association for Pulp and Paper Research and Education).
"Brazilian pulp production is expected to drop to 12 million metric tons, and paper to 8 million metric tons in 2012," affirmed Carlos Farinha e Silva, ABTCP counselor and Poyry VP. In this context, according to Elizabeth Carvalhaes, president of Bracelpa (Brazilian Pulp and Paper Association), major producers are already working on opening the range of forest products. "The investment of $22 billion to $24 billion projected by this sector is not dedicated solely to the supply of pulp, but to all uses of wood," she emphasized.
ABTCP President, Lairton Leonardi, noted that the sector is building its vision of the future based on biorefinery studies and their multiple applications. Some goals have already been met, such as lighter and more resistant packaging and the development of a higher quality and more resistant tissue paper. "Today we are facing challenges, but our vision of the future of this sector calls for development and differentiation," he concluded.
More than 6,000 attended the ABTCP 2012, between conference members and expo visitors from Brazil as well as other countries including Finland, the U.S, Argentina, Colombia, Chile, and others, and 140 presentations were given on topics related to the paper and pulp industry. More than 160 companies took part in the expo.
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