LatinNews Daily - 22 August 2024

*Brazil’s President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has announced that the government will invest R$105bn (US$19.2bn) in the paper and pulp industry from 2024-2028. Lula made this announcement in a meeting yesterday with the Indústria Brasileira de Árvores (IBÁ), a business association for the forestry sector that counts among its members some of the country’s largest paper producers, such as Suzano. The government estimates that the investment will create 36,000 jobs for the construction of new processing facilities and another 7,300 direct or indirect jobs for the operation of these new factories. In a post on social media, Lula hailed the investment as part of his government’s wider objective of revitalising Brazil’s industrial sector. According to a government press release, Brazil currently has 10m hectares (ha) of land used for the plantation of ‘productive’ tree species for the sector, including eucalyptus and pine, and Brazil is the world’s second largest producer of pulp and ninth largest producer of paper.