Geovana Pagel*
São Paulo – In the last fifteen months, Saudi Arabia imported the equivalent to US$ 4 million in low weight paper – thin Kraft line – from Celulose Irani. The Brazilian company, with offices in the city of Porto Alegre, in the southernmost Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul, started selling to the region 10 years ago. It is currently the market leader in Saudi Arabia with a line of paper that is appropriate for the packing of food.
“The great leap in sales to Saudi Arabia took place from 2003 on, when shipments grew around 50%”, stated the company export manager, Henrique Zugman. “The increase was undoubtedly excellent. It is the result of a partnership with guaranteed supply,” he evaluated. According to Zugman, since the company started selling to the region, Irani has always been concerned with regular supply, no matter what the exchange rates or logistics problems.
“The great leap really took place in 2004, when Brazil was undergoing significant difficulties in exports. As we honoured all the contracts, we are now harvesting the fruit. The tendency is to maintain the current values and volumes,” guaranteed Zugman. The main Arab market is Saudi Arabia, but the company also sells to Bahrain, Lebanon, the United Arab Emirates and Egypt.
The foreign market is strategic for the company, which is present in around 40 countries in Latin America, Europe, Asia and Africa, as well as the United States. Among the main importers, Zugman mentions Argentina, Paraguay, Chile, Saudi Arabia, Nigeria, South Africa, the United States, Bahrain, Peru, Taiwan, Costa Rica and Holland.
Apart from paper, Irani also produces pulp, cardboard, resin, sawed wood and furniture. All of the wood used is from reforestation.
Carbon credits
Last September 4, Celulose Irani became the first Brazilian company in the pulp and paper sector to have carbon credits issued in accordance with the Kyoto Protocol. The certificates were originated in the Co-generation project of the Paper Division, in Santa Catarina.
With investment of R$ 22.5 million (US$ 10.1 million) for the installation of a high-pressure furnace fuelled with reforestation biomass, the company became self-sufficient in the generation of electric energy, eliminating the use of fuel oil.
According to information supplied by Irani, the carbon credits originating in the project have already been sold to Shell, which will use them to reach its targets of reduction of emissions from its factories in industrialized countries, as is determined in the Kyoto Protocol. The potential reduction of emissions is 3,702 tonnes of carbon dioxide (CO2) equivalent over 21 years.
History
Celulose Irani, established in 1941, was responsible for the establishment of village Vila Campina da Alegria, which nowadays has around 1,300 inhabitants, most being directly or indirectly connected to the company.
In 1994, Habitasul Group took over the control of the organization and restructured Irani, taking it to a new level, which included verticalized production from seeds to packages, daily production of 400 tonnes of paper, 34,000 hectares of forests, being 16,800 hectares reserved for the cultivation of Brazil Pines, Eucalyptus and three species of other pines, and 17,200 hectares for native forests and untouchable legal reserves.
The company then adopted slogan “Technology and Preservation” to show its engagement with the improvement of its products, investment in top end technology, engagement with social responsibility, as well as promotion of adequate return of investment and assurance of work and income within the communities in which the factory is inserted.
Nowadays Celulose Irani, which employs over 1,800 people, has six industrial units located in Rio Grande do Sul, Santa Catarina and São Paulo, in the southeast of Brazil.
Contacts
Celulose Irani
Telephone: (+55 11) 5504-3521
E-mail: exporta@irani.com.br
Site: www.irani.com.br
*Translated by Mark Ament
