EscucharSAN JOSE - Ston Forestal, which have tree plantations in southern Costa Rica, plan to increase their investment here after parent company U.S. Stone Container Corporation merged with Jefferson Smurfit Corporation.
In an interview for La Nación, Ston Forestal's general manager Gustavo Morales said that the merger created the firm Smurfit-Stone Container, which will promote operations in Latin America.
Morales said that the plans include a wood-chipping mill to increase production in Costa Rica. This will mean an additional $30-million investment. The company have already invested $35 million in this Central American nation.
Ston Forestal leases 14,000 hectares (34,594 acres) in the cantons of Osa, Corredores, Golfito, Aguirre and Buenos Aires, in the province of Puntarenas, in which it grows gmelina, a tropical hardwood tree originally from Asia.
The wood from gmelina is used to make paper, including coated papers, printing and writing papers, high-softness tissue, photographic papers, and calendered papers for wrapping, to mention but a few of its applications.
The company arrived in Costa Rica in 1989 and it caused strong controversy among environmentalist organizations, who mainly claimed that the gmelina plantations were likely to erode the soil and to render it useless.
The conflicts came to an end on February 2, 1995, when a compromise was reached by the Government, the company, the communities, and the environmentalists.
First export
Currently Ston Forestal is ready for its first export of 14,000 tons of gmelina chippings, which will most probably be shipped next week from the port of Golfito.
Until now, the company had exported logs, minus their bark, to the United States.
Morales added that Ston Forestal's plans also include promoting the ``Independent Growers'' program, in order to create larger participation amongst the 230 owners of the farms dedicated to the production of gmelina. The company owns only 700 hectares (1729.7 acres) of the 14,000 hectares (34,954 acres) currently under lease.
The Stone Container-Jefferson Smurfit merger, on May 10, allows for the creation of a world leading packaging manufacturer. According to Morales, this merger benefits the Costa Rica operation, because the second company has more experience in Latin America.
Jefferson Smurfit has investment in Venezuela, Colombia, and Mexico.
Smurfit, with headquarters in Missouri, now owns 34 percent of the shares of the Chicago-based Stone Container: overall, the merger is worth $11 billion.
