The company has its origins in the early 1950s, when the
paper mill of
Cacia,
Baixo Vouga, started its operations. After the
Carnation Revolution in 1974, the Portuguese paper industry was
nationalized and became highly
subsidized by State funds. Portucel Soporcel remained well after the
privatization of the company to
Semapa in 2004, as one of the largest beneficiaries of state business grants and incentives due to its strategic interest for both Portugal's exportation and local
eucalyptus economies.
Portucel Portucel began operations at the Cacia mill in 1953 producing raw pine pulp, and became a pioneer worldwide in 1957 when it introduced sulphate bleached eucalyptus pulp, at the kraft process, into its production. In 1967, at the Setúbal mill, Inapa began its operations in a production unit integrated with Portucel, transforming pulp into paper that was sold throughout Europe. Portucel bought Papéis Inapa in 2000, thus creating a strategic partnership of great importance in initiating the restructuring process of the pulp and the paper sector in Portugal. With the
takeover of Soporcel in 2001, Portucel rebranded itself the Portucel Soporcel Group.
Soporcel The Soporcel factory in
Figueira da Foz, Portugal, was initially intended to be built in the Portuguese territory of
Angola, by then an overseas province of Portugal. Due to the
Carnation Revolution in
Lisbon on 25 April 1974, the project which included both
forestation and construction of industrial facilities in Angola, was delayed and changed. The factory would be installed some years later, in Portugal. Although it began operations in 1984 with the inauguration of the mill at Figueira da Foz, Soporcel had been constituted five years earlier. The first paper machine (PM I) began working in the year 1991, and currently has a capacity of 350,000 tonnes/year. The installation of the second paper machine (PM II – 425,000 tonnes/year), representing the most advanced technology in the sector, reinforced the position held by the Figueira da Foz mill in the European segment of the uncoated woodfree paper market. Soporcel was acquired by Portucel in 2001, creating the Portucel Soporcel Group.
Gomà-Camps In February 2023, it was announced The Navigator Company had acquired three businesses from the
Spanish-headquartered Gomà-Camps Group – its consumer tissue business, including Gomà-Camps Consumer and the French company Gomà Camps France. ==Operations==