SAO PAULO - Suzano, the world’s leading eucalyptus pulp producer, has struck a deal to buy Kimberly-Clark's tissue paper operations in Brazil.

The main asset included in the deal is a tissue production plant located in Sao Paulo state, which has an annual production capacity of around 130,000 tonnes.

The acquisition will increase Suzano’s Brazilian tissue operations to an annual capacity of approximately 280,000 tons with the company also acquiring the Neve brand and the rights to use international brands currently used by KC Brazil. The transaction does not include KC Brazil’s personal care segment.

A new company created by Suzano will hold the assets, as well as manufacture and distribute the tissue products, such as paper towels and napkins, it said.

Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

As it looks to expand, the Suzano has also brought forward its goal of removing 40 million tons of carbon from the air by 2030 to 2025.

The new five-year target is supported by the expansion of its own forest covering which will involve both an uplift in commercial planting operations and setting aside new designated conservation areas that were previously anthropised.

Alongside these improvements, Suzano says it will maintain its focus on reducing carbon emissions across its own operations and supply chain and will continue to improve its forest management to avoid losses in its operations, maximise productivity and increase carbon removal.

Eucafluff

Among its recent developments is Eucafluff which is the only eucalyptus-based fluff pulp for personal hygiene items such as diapers and sanitary napkins.

Its key benefits provided by this unique fibre are a higher liquid absorption and retention in product cores and greater comfort and discretion to the end user. These benefits are due to the high compressibility of the eucalyptus fibre – feature that has also provids associated benefits such as a reduction in packaging size, transportation and storage costs.

In 2021, the company announced the construction of a new multi-billion dollar pulp plant with annual production capacity of 2.3 million tons. The $2.8 billion project is one of the largest private-sector investments currently under development in Brazil.