Arauco do Brasil has finally halted medium density particleboard (MDP) production at the dated batch press plant in urban Curitiba it inherited from Placas do Paraná in 2005.
Although panel output from its remaining single daylight Dieffenbacher press lines stopped in December 2011, Arauco has continued panel finishing at the site. It is still running the plant’s melamine laminating line and paper impregnator, processing MDP board produced at the company’s nearby mill in Piên.
Arauco has sought to close and replace the Curitiba plant altogether for some time. Initially, it invested to improve board quality and optimise output, raising MDP capacity of the three newest lines to 280,000m3/year in 2010. But the Chilean owned firm’s expanding Brazilian operations were handicapped by lack of space to expand and upgrade the old city site.
Curitiba mill, dating back to 1965, originally operated five small Dieffenbacher panel lines under Placas do Paraná with overall particleboard capacity of 320,000m3/year. This plant was the first to turn out particleboard in Brazil.
Arauco do Brasil has offered redundant workers at Curitiba employment at its other operations in Paraná state.
