Eucatex posts 55% increase in EBITDA for full year 2021
13 May 2022Brazilian wood-based panels producer Eucatex has reported a large boost in annual revenues and profits.
The company posted a 36% growth in 2021 annual net revenues to R$2.449bn, while EBITDA grew 55% to R$558m.
In 4Q21, the harmful effects of high inflation were evident, which eroded the purchasing power of workers, resulting in interest rate hikes and the consequent decline in consumer confidence indices.
Eucatex said the disarray across supply chains caused by the pandemic, among other factors, curtailed supply and drove up the prices of diverse inputs used by the company.
At the same time, several of the company's operating segments lost momentum, making it difficult for the company to pass on these cost increases to prices.
Demand for panels in the domestic and foreign markets slowed down and declined in relation to 4Q20 due to the normalization of inventories and the reduction of exports, mainly due to logistical difficulties and the cost of sea freight.
Indicators for the panels market, which includes MDF/HDF/MDP/Fibreboard sales, according to IBÁ (Brazilian Tree Industry) and the company’s figures, showed that the domestic and external markets grew 15.1% and 1.4% respectively in 2021.
Sales volume in the company’s Wood segment, considering both domestic and export markets, increased 6.3% in 4Q21 compared to the same period last year. The quarterly performance was impacted by the positive result in domestic sales (+10.9%) despite the decline in exports (-9.4%).
In 4Q21, there was a considerable delay in shipments to export markets, resulting in an increase in the company's inventories. Due to the shortage of containers, Eucatex started chartering a ship and shipping goods as “loose cargo” in Q421, a practice not used for many years.
For 2022, an agreement has already been signed to regularize the situation of container shipments.
Eucatex plans investments of around R$248m in 2022.
