Brazil’s National Economic and Social Development Bank (BNDES) will provide 30% of the funding for a project developed by the Votorantim Cellulose and Paper Company for the implantation, reform, and maintenance of 107,318 hectares of eucalyptus forest in the states of Rio Grande do Sul and São Paulo by 2006.
The total cost of the project is US$ 288.4 million (730.3 million reais). The other 70% of the investment will come from the company itself. It is expected that 768 direct jobs and 2,715 indirect ones will be generated.
This year’s BNDES budget includes US$ 580 million for the paper and cellulose sector, 44% more than in 2004. Brazil had a US$ 2.6 billion trade surplus in this sector last year, and Brazil is the world’s seventh largest cellulose producer.
On another front, the Cristalia Pharmaceutical Chemical Products Company, Brazil’s biggest manufacturer of hospital anesthetics, will receive US$ 5.13 million (13 million reais) from the BNDES to expand and modernize its production capacity.
The project involves the construction of another plant in the laboratory’s industrial park in Itapira, in the state of São Paulo. 400 direct jobs should be created.
The project foresees increases in monthly production of anesthetic pills from 100 million to 300 million and of anesthetic ointments from 750 thousand units to 1.6 million units.
The BNDES funds will be provided under the aegis of the Support Program for the Development of the Pharmaceutical Productive Chain. The total investment for the project amounts to US$ 30.8 million (78 million reais).
Agência Brasil