Suzano, the world’s largest pulp producer, used its December 11 Investor Day to signal a clear move away from megaproject spending as its latest investment cycle winds down.
With big-ticket projects nearing completion, the company is pivoting toward competitiveness, cash generation, and balance-sheet strength at a time when global pulp markets are grappling with persistent oversupply. The pulp backdrop remains tough, with fresh capacity still coming on in Latin America and Asia, rising integrated production in China, and ongoing pressure from higher wood costs and squeezed margins. Management still sees global bleached hardwood kraft pulp demand growing at roughly 2% per year through 2029 but cautions that this will not be enough to absorb all the new tonnes hitting the market.
Instead of launching new greenfield mills, Suzano says the next two to three years will be about maximizing the assets it has, notably the Ribas do Rio Pardo mill and its expanded fluff pulp platform. Discretionary capex will be applied more selectively, with value creation increasingly tied to operational efficiency and resilient cash flow rather than sheer volume growth.
The tone stands in contrast to peers such as Arauco, which is still leaning into large-scale capacity additions, and CMPC, which is pushing ahead with investments across pulp and tissue. Stora Enso, for its part, is also tightening capital discipline, but with a sharper tilt toward packaging and biomaterials. Suzano’s message is more measured, but unambiguous: the next chapter is about returns, not new tonnes.
This article extracts information disclosed by Suzano at its Investor Day presentation on December 11, 2025.
About Suzano
Suzano is the world’s largest producer of market pulp and a leading integrated paper and packaging company, with industrial and forestry operations primarily in Brazil and commercial activities worldwide.
