WestRock to build corrugating plant in Brazil

Norcross, Georgia-based WestRock Co. has announced plans to build a new corrugated box plant in the Brazilian state of Sao Paulo. The company says the facility will help meet growing demand from WestRock’s customers in South America, and it will be supplied with paper from WestRock’s virgin fiber containerboard mill in Três Barras, Brazil.

“WestRock’s corrugated packaging business in Brazil continues to perform well, with strong relationships with customers in attractive growth markets,” says Steve Voorhees, CEO of WestRock. “Our new corrugated packaging plant will enable our exceptional team in Brazil to serve these customers even better in the future, with a state-of-the-art manufacturing facility that will provide new capabilities and efficiencies for our customers and to further integrate the containerboard that we manufacture in Brazil.”

The new facility will be located in Porto Feliz, Brazil, and will serve industry segments and markets in São Paulo and in other areas in Brazil’s southeast region. Construction is expected to begin in late 2018 and be completed in mid-2019.

When completed, the Porto Feliz plant will replace the company’s existing Brazilian corrugated operations in Valinhos, Brazil. The plant will be integrated with the forestry and paper production operations of the Três Barras (Santa Catarina) mill and will increase the consumption of the mill's virgin fiber HyPerform corrugated paper, says WestRock.