The Altri Group reached a net profit of €19.6 million in the first three months of the year, a reduction of 34.3% compared to the same period of the previous year, reflecting the effect of destocking along the value chain of the pulp and paper, a consequence of the slowdown in global demand for pulp and the normalization of world logistics.

EBITDA reached €50.2 million, a decrease of 17.6% penalized by the generalized inflation of variable costs that still impacted a quarter in which total revenues reached €224.7 million.

“We successfully carried out the scheduled stoppage of what is the largest industrial unit of the Altri Group, Celbi, this quarter, reinforcing its operational efficiency. This stoppage implied a reduction in the total volume of fibers produced by the Altri Group”, says José de Pina, CEO of Altri.

Positive outlook for the market

The global demand for cellulosic fibers decreased by 3.5% compared to the same period last year, with the demand for Hardwood Pulp showing a less negative trend, falling by 3.1%. Despite greater demand from China and Asia, these geographies were unable to compensate for the declines in the European and North American markets.

Through Caima, Celbi and Biotek, Altri Group produced 239.5 thousand tons of cellulosic fibers in the quarter. Sales followed the reduction in production, explained by Celbi's scheduled stoppage, but also the destocking effect, registering a year-on-year decrease of 15.7% to 251.4 thousand tons.

“The context of destocking along the value chain of the pulp and paper industry led to a decrease in sales at a time of easing fiber prices”, stresses Altri's CEO. The perspective is, however, that the normalization process is close to the end, so we will see an improvement in the perspectives of price evolution.

Reinforcement of investment

This situation reinforces the Altri Group's focus on operational discipline, but also on the transformation of its profile, more oriented towards bioeconomy markets.

“In this quarter alone, the Altri Group invested a total of €18.4 million, almost three times more than in the same period last year, in an effort to improve the efficiency and sustainability of our industrial units, but also seeking to prepare them so that they can grasp new opportunities created by the bioeconomy”, says José de Pina.

In this sense, the Altri Group continues to work with the objective of announcing the final investment decision regarding the Gama Project, in Galicia, which foresees the construction of an industrial unit from scratch, with an annual production capacity of 200,000 tons of dissolving pulp and sustainable textile fibers. That decision should be announced later this year.