The US$167m reconstruction project called Project Phoenix, initiated by the company early last year, is already 35% complete. Arauco is replacing the destroyed 450,000m3/year radiata pine plywood plant at its big Bio Bio valley wood products complex with a smaller 350,000m3/year plywood facility.
The new mill is due to produce the softwood panels for chiefly for export to the US, to Latin America – mainly Mexico – as well as to Europe, Asia and Oceania, according to the firm’s Santiago-based parent group Celulosa Arauco y Constitución SA. When complete, the facility will provide 780 permanent jobs, it added.
Finland’s Raute Corporation was awarded a major $65.5m contract to equip the new plywood facility by Arauco.
