Novelis to invest US$ 300 million in plant in Brazil
Valor Econômico
Novelis, the former Division of aluminum rolled products of the Canadian Alcan that was turned into an independent company in January 2005, has just approved its greatest individual investment since its creation. The company will invest US$ 300 million (more than half a billion Reais) in the increase of the productive capacity of its rolling complex in Pindamonhangaba (SP). The company wants to keep up with the growth of the demand of the Brazilian market and of other South American countries in packaging for beverages (cans), which has grown at annual rates of 10% in the last five years.
"The purpose of such investment is to guarantee the supply in the medium and long term of aluminum sheets for can manufacturers in the region", told Valor the President of Novelis for South America, Alexandre Almeida. The new equipment of the plant of Pinda - today the only one in Latin America and the second largest in the Americas - will go into operation at the end of 2012. With the expansion, the current capacity, of 400 thousand tons of rolled plates a year will increase by 50% to 600 thousand tons. In the short term - two years - with the current capacity, the company is able to cater to its clients in the country and in the region, assured the Executive.
The market of aluminum cans, according to Abralatas, entity of the manufacturers of cans in the country, has reached 14.8 billion units last year, showing growth of nearly 12%. Early this year, the superheated demand for beer, soft drinks and juices caught manufacturers by surprise and there was shortage of cans. Rexam, Crown and Latapack-Ball announced expansions and new plants, but until the works are over they will have to make use of imports. Their forecast is to buy up to 1.5 billion units abroad during the year. CSN works in the Northeast with steel cans.
Almeida explains the last major investment in the unit of Pinda was made in 1999, when the capacity was increased from 120 thousand to 280 thousand tons. "That allowed the development of the can industry in the country". In the past years, with the overcoming of the bottlenecks in the production lines and improvements in processes, the complex was increased by more than 40%. "The current volume is enough to cater to the production of up to 22 billion cans a year", he said. With new plans, manufacturers should get to 20 billion in 2011. With that expansion, Pinda becomes one of the largest aluminum rolling plants in the world, similar to that Novelis currently operates in the USA, in the State of New York.