São Paulo, May 11, 2021 – Klabin, Brazil’s largest packaging paper producer and exporter, the country’s only producer to offer solutions in hardwood, softwood and fluff pulp, and the leading producer of corrugated board packaging and industrial bags, registered 22% growth in adjusted EBITDA (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization) in the first quarter of 2021 compared to the same period last year, which reached R$1.254 billion, excluding non-recurring effects.

Total sales in the first three months of the year, excluding wood, increased 7% from the same period in 2020 to reach 909,000 tons, driven by strong demand across all Klabin business units and the additional quantity already produced by the mills acquired from International Paper. Sales growth during the period, combined with the depreciation of the Brazilian real against the U.S. dollar and price recovery in the pulp, paper and packaging markets, led to net revenue of R$3.4 billion in the first quarter, up 34% from the first quarter of 2020.

Klabin’s integrated and diversified business model and its operating flexibility enabled it to adapt to diverse market conditions and once again deliver consistent results in the period.

Investments

The Company’s investments in the first quarter of 2021 totaled R$815 million, of  which R$67 million went to forestry operations, R$184 million to working capital requirements of mills and R$67 million to special projects and expansions. Investments in the Puma II Project in the first quarter totaled R$497 million.

Puma II Project

The first machine of the Puma II Project, which will produce Eukaliner®, the world’s first kraftliner 100% derived from eucalyptus fibers, is scheduled to go operational in the second half of July 2021. Construction work on the first phase of the Project has already reached 88%. Last week, after a period spent on carefully evaluating market trends and conditions, Klabin announced the new scope of the second phase of the Puma II Project, which involves the installation of a paperboard machine. Considering this scope and the impacts of exchange rate variation and inflation, total investment in the project will be R$12.9 billion, of which R$5.8 billion has already been disbursed.