Environment & Energy | Sunday 22 February, 2015 10:05 am |

The Portucel Soporcel group, Europe's leading manufacturer of UWF (uncoated woodfree) printing and writing paper, and Portugal's second largest exporter, selling to 127 countries, is set to take part for the third year running in Paperworld Middle East, in Dubai, from 2nd to 4th March, the largest paper and office supplies trade fair in the region. The Group's aim is to build further on the business relationships it has long been developing in the Middle East, especially since it became a regular exhibitor at this event.

"Over the last six years, the Group has successfully expanded its sales in this important region in the segments offering the most value added, cut-size in particular, and the Group accounts for more than 50% of European exports of UWF printing and writing paper to the region”, explained Hermano Mendonça, marketing director at the Portucel Soporcel group, "A stronger presence in emerging markets like the Middle East is of increasing strategic importance, in view of the company's focus on marketing premium products and mill brands, to which the region has proved extremely receptive."

In previous years, the response at Paperworld Middle East to the Portucel Soporcel group's own brands has been extremely positive, creating excellent prospects for an increased presence in high-potential markets such as those in the Middle East, Africa and Asia. The growing interest from paper wholesalers and end customers in these markets has also been achieved thanks to the Group's consistent presence in the Middle East over the past two decades.

Explaining that the Portucel Soporcel group's participation in these events is part of its strategy of seeking out fresh business opportunities and consolidating international partnerships, which enable the Group to export products to 127 countries all over the world, Hermano Mendonça stressed that "our third appearance at the Dubai trade fair will help boost the potential for growth confirmed in previous years for our own brands, which currently represent more than 60% of sales of cut-size products, offering unrivalled quality, innovation and environmental sustainability."

The prime aim will therefore be to make the most of the face-to-face contact with local distributors in order to bolster the Group's sales performance, building on the achievements of the first nine months of 2014, during which the Portucel Soporcel group not only achieved its paper output record, but also increased sales by 3% to more than 1,564 million tons. The robust volume of paper sales made it possible to minimise the negative effect of falling pulp and paper prices over the period, allowing the Group to record an increase in turnover to € 1,542.3 million.


Navigator in the spotlight
Over three days, the Portucel Soporcel group will be at stand P11 in Za'Abeel Hall 3, where it will exhibit the Group's main office paper brands - Pioneer, Inacopia, Explorer, Target and Discovery – as well as Navigator, the global best-seller in the premium segment, featuring its products launched specifically for the home market, such as Home Pack and On-the-Go.

Visitors will also have the chance to see the wide range of Navigator products, now available in reels for plotter printers, with products ranging from 75 g.m2 to 120 g.m2. These new additions will enable the brand to develop custom from professional users such as architects and designers, for whom paper quality is crucial when presenting their work to clients.

The range of plotter reels complements the varied Navigator product portfolio, which includes office paper, paper for pre-printing applications and envelopes, all with the same quality standards which combine to ensure unbeatable consistency.

Sold to more than 110 countries, Navigator presents values which continue to be fundamental in communicating the brand, such as excellent performance in all office equipment, thickness and opacity allowing for double side printing, excellent printing quality in laser and inkjet printers and a guarantee of being 99.99% jam-free. This performance has been certified by the Buyers Laboratory INC (BLI), the leading independent laboratory for testing office equipment and consumer protection body.

This success will be displayed more clearly in the future, as Navigator reams (and other Group brands also tested by BLI) will start to include the BLI logo on their packaging, as a further assurance to end consumers of their excellent performance standards.


About the Portucel Soporcel group
The Portucel Soporcel group is Portugal’s second leading exporter, and the exporter generating the highest level of national value added. The Group accounts for approximately 1% of Portugal's GDP, around 3% of the country's total exports of goods, close to 8% of all containerized cargo and 7% of all containerized and conventional cargo exported through Portuguese ports.

In 2014, the Portucel Soporcel group set a new record for paper output, increasing the sales volume by 3% to 1,564 million tons, allowing the Group to achieve growth in turnover to € 1,542.3 million.

Having consolidated its position as the leading European manufacturer, and the sixth largest in the world, of uncoated woodfree (UWF) printing and writing paper, the Group is also Europe's top producer of BEKP (Bleached Eucalyptus Kraft Pulp), and the fifth largest in the world.

The Group has successfully pursued a strategy of innovation and development of its own brands, which today account for 62% of sales of manufactured products. Special mention should be made of the Navigator brand, the world’s best-selling product in the premium office paper segment.

The Group sells its products to 127 countries over five continents, with a special focus on Europe and the US, giving it the largest export base of any Portuguese company.

As a vertically integrated forestry group with its own forestry research institute, it leads the world in the genetic improvement of the Eucalyptus globulus. It manages vast tracts of forest in Portugal certified under the FSC® and PEFC™ systems (FSC license C010852 and PEFC license 13-23-001), and boasts annual production capacity for 1.6 million tons of paper, 1.4 million tons of pulp (of which 1.1 million is integrated into paper) and power generation of 2.5 TWh, adding up to annual turnover approximately of approximately 1.5 billion euros.

The Group operates one of Europe’s largest nurseries for forestry plants, with annual production capacity of approximately 12 million certified plants of various species, destined for use in renewing Portugal’s woodlands.

In keeping with its strategy of international expansion, the Group recently acquired a tissue paper mill - AMS - and is currently investing in a major vertically integrated forestry project in Mozambique, set to culminate in the construction of a cellulose pulp mill, a capital project worth 2.3 billion dollars, as well as a pellets factory in the USA.
www.portucelsoporcel.com