Aracruz reports demonstrators invade Portocel; destroy pulp

SAO PAULO, March 9, 2009 (Press Release) - This Monday (March 9), at approximately 5 a.m., 15 buses containing some 450 women belonging to the Via Campesina Movement invaded the installations of Portocel - the private port terminal owned by Aracruz (51%) and Cenibra.

For a little over one hour, the demonstrators used paint, kerosene and termites to damage approximately 2,000 tons of pulp. Due to safety concerns, port operations were suspended for nearly 5 hours.

Portocel is one of the most efficient ports in the world for handling and loading pulp, responsible for 70% of Brazil's pulp exports. At the moment of the invasion it was operating at full capacity, with three ships docked, a freight train on a siding, a lumber-carrying barge in port and some 40 pulp trucks awaiting unloading. Work was halted, idling 150 employees.

Portocel's managing superintendent, Gilberto Marques, lamented the occurrence. "Our port was used as an instrument of protest against agribusiness and the economic system. It is an aggression that has no justification, seeking to impact the country's exports, precisely in a sector in which Brazil is highly competitive. The company hopes that such facts will not go unpunished," he added.

Portocel - The Specialized Barra do Riacho Terminal - Portocel is the only port in Brazil dedicated to the loading of pulp. It is prepared to receive ships on a continuous basis, with annual loading capacity of 7.5 million tons of pulp.

Aracruz Celulose (51%) and Cenibra (49%), two of the largest producers and exporters of pulp from Brazil, jointly own the port. Portocel exports all the pulp produced by these two companies as well as shipping pulp produced by Suzano (located in Bahia) and the entire pulp output of Veracel (Bahia), a joint venture of Aracruz Celulose and the Swedish-Finnish company Stora Enso.