After submitting local authorities and trade unions the industrial plan for the renewed start of the Mantua paper mill, i.e. the former Burgo, the Pro-Gest Group signed a contract for the purchase of a new paper machine called Mantova1. The contract was signed with Valmet, i.e. a Finnish company producing paper machines, and is worth 75 million Euros, although the overall investment in the site exceeds 150 million Euros.
The work on the final drawings and projects to build the plant as quickly as possible will soon start, thereby trying to reduce delivery and setting up times to the minimum.
As Pro-Gest managing director Bruno Zago declares, «the purchase of the paper machine is a further step in the investment that the Pro-Gest Group is currently making in the Mantua paper mill». We chose Valmet as our technological partner, as it is a reliable and avant-garde company, which is as such the right one to support us in this major project». The Containerboard sector is the most important one among the various types of papers. World production is about 150 million tons every year, with Europe representing the third market with about 27 million tons after Asia and immediately after North America. Italy is the second largest European market in terms of consumption, but it produces about 1.1 million tons less compared to its needs and as to rely on imports to meet its additional needs. This is the only European country, which is not self-sufficient in the production of packaging papers, hence transport costs due to imports have a high incidence. With the Mantua plant, about one third of the tons imported today will be produced in Italy. Zago goes on and states that «since the beginning, our intention has been to completely transform the Mantua paper mill by equipping it with the best technology for corrugated base papers, which is currently the fastest growing sector at an international level: +2.2% yearly. Currently, this product with a low coat weight and high performance, which is increasingly demanded also by the domestic market, is only produced by the Villa Lagarina paper mill in Italy. Our objective is to turn the Mantua plant into a highly competitive factory (with an annual production, at full performance, of about 500 thousand tons), which should make us less dependant on imports and capable of competing with the markets of neighbouring countries thanks to the high quality papers it can produce».