Another Brazilian wood panels manufacturer has signalled its intention to boost the national MDF production capacity, as Masisa do Brasil SA revealed it is preparing plans for a new 450,000m3/year line by 2013.
The Brazilian offshoot of Latin America’s leading panel making group is set to decide soon whether to locate the new line at one of its two existing southern plants or opt for a greenfield site further north in the country.
The company, with a 315,000m3/year MDF plant in Ponta Grossa, Paraná state and a big 750,000m3/yearmedium density particleboard (MDP) unit at Montenegro, Rio Grande do Sul state, hopes to order the new MDF line by the end of 2011, its operations director Pablo Rossler told WBPI.
Masisa’s 10-year-old Ponta Grossa fibreboard line has been upgraded but is now at its production limit and the Masisa do Brasil is all but sold out with almost every panel now laminated, he explained.
The Chilean-owned group has other longer term capacity plans for Brazil with a tentative project to install a third MDF line by 2017 as part of its US$ 100 million regional strategic plan, he confirmed.
The location of this line will depend on where Masisa sites its second unit.
Masisa is the third Brazilian panels producer this year to unveil a fresh industrial project for the country in what is turning into a new growth cycle for the industry.
