Celulosa Arauco y Constitución S.A. was established in 1979 when Celulosa Arauco S.A. and Celulosa Constitución S.A. were merged. Over time, Arauco has consolidated as one of the largest forestry companies in Latin America in terms of the surface area and performance of its plantations, manufacture of market kraft pulp and output of panels and sawn lumber.
The leadership attained has been possible due to a business strategy focused on leveraging the value of its plantations and attaining cost advantages. The company has a mid- and long-term investment plan for this, deploys state-of-the-art forestry stewardship techniques and constantly expands its product lines. Moreover, the company operations are integrated to the productive chain, and it has a commercial structure able to timely analyze demand and quickly detect customer needs. This has enabled Arauco to adapt its product mix to market conditions, make the best investment decisions and reduce the impact of raw material cost fluctuations. On the other hand, product and export market diversification have been a key factor in reducing exposure to a specific market by re-routing production according to the commercial conditions.
Furthermore, Arauco has large competitive advantages of fast growth and the short harvesting cycle of its forests, favorable soil and weather conditions for the cultivation of pine and eucalyptus trees, the use of state-of-the-art forest stewardship techniques, the scale economies of its facilities and closeness to shipping ports. Arauco’s products are thereby exported to 70 countries through the ports of San Vicente, Coronel and Lirquén. The company has a 50% and 20% stake of the latter two ports, respectively.