Japanese companies alliance produce the newsprint that you read

Val-André Mutran (Macapá) — Probably the newspaper paper that you are reading has the base of your raw material produced in blocks of areas reforested in Amapá, extreme Brazil's North by Amapá Forest and Cellulose Ltda (AMCEL), acquired at the end of November 2006, therefore two years ago, in a Japanese companies alliance Marubeni and Nippon Paper. The commercial agreement acquired the Brazilian branch of the north american multinational International Paper, larger world manufacturer of paper for newspapers, that I had for mineradora Caemi as partner.

The acquisition operation, accomplished in national scope, by means of which Marubeni Corporation – holding belonging to the Group Marubeni, of Japanese origin – and Nippon Paper Industries CO., Ltd. ("Nippon") – belonging to the Group Nippon Paper, of same origin – acquired the companies quotas totality International Paper Participations Ltda. (International Paper) and Chamflora - Amapá Agroflorestal Ltda. ("Chamflora"), as well as from the actions total of Amapá Forest Cellulose S.A. ("Amcel") – belonging to the Group International Paper ("IP GROUP"), of north american origin.

The transaction at that time cost to the Japanese ￥6 billion (about US$ 50 million), divided igualitariamente among buyers. With the acquisition, the Japanese companies won Amcel's Control, lady of 130 thousand hectares in earths in Amapá's State.

In Amcel's Purchase, the Japanese acquired in the package the company Amap Forest and Cellulose, that there is time, had 67 thousand hectares planted with eucalyptus and another trees, and it exports wooden chips for industries stationers of Europe and of the USA. The company already also had plans of arriving to the Japanese market.

Amcel's Business embodied about 67 thousand hectares of forests planted of pinus and of eucalyptus in Santana's Municipal districts Amapaenses, Tartarugalzinho, Porto Great, Ferreira Gomes, Amapá and Itaúbal do Piririm, besides the shavingses and biomass production.

The international demand of the raw material base for cellulose production increased and the company enlarged its customers wallet for Canada and the Turkey.

With the purchase both companies established a symbiosis in which Marubeni enlarges her operations becoming to offer in the world market wooden chips to prosecute paper and Nippon Paper keep stable stocks of the product for utilization in Japan.

Goal durst — Amcel was created in August 1976 as subsidiary of the Group CaemiI. In 1977 they initiated Pinus' Plantings in 1.032 ha; In 1978 were enlarged for more 4.931 ha and, after 1979, it kept an average program of planting of 7.700 ha per year. In 1996, Champion Paper and Cellulose acquired Amcel's stock rights, and in 2000 International Paper do Brazil Ltda, IPB, filial of a north american, acquired Champion. By April 2004 Amcel relied on 27,1 thousand ha of forests of Pinus in ages varying from 1 to 27 years, 47,4 thousand ha with the gender Eucalyptus, 264 ha with other species and 20,5 thousand ha with area in pousio.

Amcel's Saga is told in the book "The international commerce of the state of Amapá" , of Gutemberg de Vilhena Silva and Jadson Luís Rebelo Porto. Nowadays the company is reformulating the strategy for use of the effective planting areas, opting by the plantings substitution of Pinus for Eucalyptus' Plantings spp. According to company, the species are of easy cultivation and reproduction, fast growth whose rotation period is short, and it owns adaptation great capacity in the region where is inserted the proposed enterprise. It add that, according to Silva and Porto, the north American, main market buyer, uses more the eucalyptus than pinus to do not absorbent paper, being this one of the culture change main reasons.

The focus change after the Japanese control put Amcel between the ten larger exporters of the Northern region according to the Development Department, Industry and Outer Commerce, duplicating your performance. Before the acquisition the company was between the twenty larger in the ranking.

According to Hitoshi Wada, operations director of Amcel, is in the company's plans reach the scale of 300 thousand hectares planted in the nearby six years. "If everything run as the planned, the company, with this scale, will proceed evaluating as great possibility for verticalização of her operations implanting a paper and cellulose production plant in Santana, where it is already in operation the shavingses grind factory".

Difficulties — The transfer transaction of the stock control of Amcel, subsidiary of the Caemi, afterwards acquired by the Group International Paper ("IP GROUP") of American capital, was not seen with good eyes by then governor of Amapá João Alberto Capiberibe.

The governor understood that I was necessary to support a scandalous made accusation by the Land Commission Pastoral that the purchase process of the areas of the old Amcel was irregular and that cared forred an earths grilagem addicted process.

The Government of João Alberto Capiberibe initiated the discriminatory of this region. The polemic was examined by the National Congress, Incra among other agents regulators. After the investigatory courses, the agrarian frays were illustrious and the purchase process was concluded.

After acquiring Amcel's Control the Japanese they keep discreet about company's institutional relations with the political actors and prefer do not comment the episode involving to International Paper, CPT and then governor João Alberto Capiberibe.

Nowadays the company relations with the government of Amapá belongs to collaboration. The company develops a series of projects of social, independent responsibility to of being one of the largest taxpayers of the Estado, generating a thousand direct jobs and four thousand indirect, besides prioritizing the purchases in the own state where is installed.

But Amcel's Challenge nowadays is his commitment with the environment.

It is common a shouting regarding the probable damages caused in biomas Brazilian where is introduced a reforestation with exotic species.

Amcel operates in field-closed area in Amapá — or else the worst — competes for the title of one of the most complicated earths for any planting in every Brazilian Amazônia.

The Japanese did not give the arm to twist and implanted a laboratory high-tech of production of dumb of US$ 5 million and production capacity of 13 million dumb clonadas/ano.

The planting goal in 2008 with the dumb clonadas especially for the arid land amapaense fill of happiness and pride the forest engineer Adalberto Plinio Silva, manager Amcel's Forest General. Water monitoramento stations of streams, brooks and igarapés functional full-team under company's supervision and the eminent danger propagated by your detractors are treated with science and technology. "There is not any eucalypto danger change the environment of the areas in which it is planted in Amapá. Like São Paulo, been which the species was introduced at the beginning last century in bioma of the Atlantic forest and eucalypto canibalização menace in the nutritious front competitiveness to the native species of the region, prove that the science, a good handling and the scientific responsibility, today, are our allied larger in the Amapá to guarantee that no excepcionalidade is going to occur here", guarantees Plinio Silva.

Logistics integrated — maquinário in operation by Amcel demands sincronia. Four turns of hard working work on a symphonic team-work of at least a technical operational spare month.

Tractors from last generation imported of Finland and of the United States, subcontracted carts and a colossal equipment in the production line in the plant installed next to Porto de Santana, guarantee to the crazy production, the departure capacity of a ship graneleiro every week.

While the ton of used calcareous the dozens of thousands of tons to correct the weak and acid terrain explored by Amcel in Amapá in her reforestation areas cost the bagatelle of US$ 60,00, due to the import freight price of other regions producers of Brazil, the competition just pays ¾ of the ton price where are installed. "In the pencil tip that cost is diluted in the pencil tip by Porto de Santana's routes proximity where are located our main customers and, preponderantemente by the productivity levels that we persecute day-after-day, — and, yet, certainly, the standard that we reach after the certification ISO 14.100", attests Armindo Luiz Baretta, forest engineer and harvest manager and Amcel's Transportation.

The agrarian factor — Pasts two years after the commercial alliance that united Marubeni and Nippon Paper who acquired Amcel Paper and Cellulose S/A, a subsidiary of the Group Caemi who outside afterwards bought by the American of International Paper ("IP GROUP"), perhaps a detail, be the differential that convinced the Japanese that the business in Amapá would attend the focus of his interests.

The main problem for the arrival of foreign capital in Amazônia is the notorious agrarian mess in which all the region does not historically manage to put in equation.

In the president government Fernando Henrique Cardoso for obrigatoriedade of recomposição of the legal reserve in the rural buildings and the percentile of 80% legal spare in Amazônia's Legal Rural properties is being questioned by a Direct Action of Unconstitutionality (ADIN) judged by the Agriculture Confederation and Brazil's Cattle breeding (CNA) close to the Supreme Federal Court of Justice (STF). For the regions where was already demanded the application of the legal spare concept, like demands the Forest Code (Law 4771/65), the Temporary Measure 2166 even increases the percentile of earths that should be preserved for environmental ends, many times turning the economically unviable property, and without there is compensation to the owner. In Amazônia Legal, for example, each property should have 50% of its preserved area as legal reserve, as the original version of the Forest Code in its original composition. With MP 2166, 80% of the area should be kept as legal reserve, without caning be used to any activity combined agriculture or agrosilvopastoril.

MP 2166 became to demand, as well, the application of the legal spare concept the properties situated in regions where until then there was not such exigency, like the farms installed in field areas Brazil's Southern General. It is region without forests, with field formed by natural pastures, in other words, areas adequate for the cattle creation. By the rules of the original Forest Code, there was no need to earths use limitation in the areas of general field. According to MP 2166, however, bit of 20% of these earths should have the limited use, in the legal spare form.

ADIN nº 3346, judged with request of preliminary, has the minister Marco Aurélio Mello as reporter. In the action, CNA defends that MP's Determinations 2166 "they imply restrictions to the property right, without assuring the recoupment right to the particular reached by their dispositions". The text sent to STF cites, yet, that "ademais of the usurpation of legislative functions, for Temporary Measure it tends to suppress individual rights, what is not possible not even for Constitutional Amendment". The argumentation sent to the Judiciary indicates that MP's Edition 2166 guitar devices established by the goods 5th, 170 and 225 of the Federal Constitution. The devices of the Forest Code, changed by the edition of the Temporary Measure 2166 and contested by Adin 2246 are the goods 1st, interruption III; 16 and 44.

CNA understands that the imposition of the juridical illustration of the legal reserve, especially regarding the percentile new established by the Temporary Measure 2166 to are observed in the properties situated in Amazônia Legal, represents excessive onus, pledging the economic viability of the exploration combined agriculture of the rural building. This way, also regarding the imposition generalized of recomposição forest.

In the directors' company opinion, Brazil stops receiving voluminous investments in Amazônia in order regulatória barriers reason and fiscal.

Moments before the decree publication, Amcel his averbou areas in Amapá in the criterion in vogue of 50% legal spare, regularizing, in the practice that landing in Registry.
Nowadays, with 47 thousand hectares of eucalypto planting, 9 thousand hectares with pinus, 7 thousand hectares with other species, 70 thousand hectares for future planting, they perform with the rest blocks of previously planted earths, 160 thousand hectares of monitored reforestation and another 173 thousand forest spare hectares and Areas of Permanent Preservation (APPs, as the legislation determines). " Was not that the group would not be acquired by the Japanese", evaluates Carlos O. Rock, manager of Regional Subjects of Amcel.

To reach the 350 thousand indeed planted hectares, other producers would need to invest in reforestation. "Our goal is a paper and cellulose factory right here", guaranteed Witoshi Wada. The investment for the factory belongs to US$ 1 billion, own resources of the company are private for the durst plan.

Reflorestador weighed of the species Weaves in his farms in Pará, the federal deputy Giovanni Queiroz (PDT-PA) said that "PAS's New release is a light in the tunnel end, since Amazônia is paralyzed with the current policy of generalized repression, unpreparedness, laziness and government's federal incompetence", accuses.

In the opinion of the parliamentary that visited some of the plantings of Amcel in Porto Ferreira, in Amapá, companies as Amcel should be seconded for vendors of all the sizes. "Fault us an incentives policy to the personal computer, small and average producers, that of ownership of clear rules after the conclusion of a convincing Ecological-economic Zoning, allow to the State that compose Amazônia Legal, in proportional scale to the necessary cares with the Forest biomas preservation and Closed, the production in scale that can make the difference for Amazônia's sustainable development", foresees.

With the new release in this week in Brasília who resuscitated the Plan Amazônia Sustainable — kept in the drawer since 2003 —, that foresees, come in other actions, credit lines differentiated for investments in reforestation. Who knows other producers do not do the accounts and verify the reforestation excellent business advantages: Brazil and the environment of the whole world are certainly going to thank.