Mexico City-based Proteak Uno, which specialises in plantation teak and solid wood products, plans to build the greenfield fibreboard plant at Huimanguillo, 67 kilometers from the state capital Villahermosa. The facility is understood to be scheduled for completion in early 2015.
Proteak is in the process of buying Forestaciones Operativas de Mexico SA de CV, (FOMEX) the national eucalyptus plantation business of Mexican industrial conglomerate Grupo Kuo. The FOMEX deal, will give Proteak FSC certified eucalypt plantations in Tabasco and the neighbouring states of Oaxaca pand Veracruz.
Early this year, Grupo Kuo concluded another deal in which it sold off its Mexican particleboard and resins subsidiary Rexcel, including two board plants with 460,000m3/year capacity, to the Chilean panel group Masisa SA for more than US$54m.
Proteak is said to be investing around US$140m in the Tabasco project overall, including the acquisition of around 8,000ha of eucalypt forest in the state.
