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Chile Celulosa Arauco Pulp Mills Still Offline Following Quake
MARCH 17, 2010, 9:42 A.M. ET.

http://online.wsj.com/article/BT-CO-20100317-708260.html?mod=WSJ_World_MIDDLEHeadlinesAmericas#articleTabs_article

SANTIAGO (Dow Jones)--Chile's Celulosa Arauco y Constitucion SA, one ofthe world's leading pulp producers, said Wednesday its five domesticpulp plants are still offline as damages are evaluated and repairedfollowing a devastating earthquake Feb. 27.

Most of Arauco's operations are located in the Bio Bio region, oneof the hardest hit by the 8.8-magnitude quake that ravaged large partsof south-central Chile.

The company's Licancel, Constitucion, Nueva Aldea, Arauco and Valdivia plants suffered varying levels of damage, leading the companyto previously say that during March there probably won't be any pulpproduction at its plants in Chile.

The earthquake didn't damage any of Arauco's forests.

Of Arauco's seven saw mills, four are back in operation; of its sixremanufacturing plants, four are operating; and of its four woodpaneling plants, two are operating, the company said in a filing.

Prior to the earthquake, Chile's market pulp production accounted for about 8% of world market pulp production.

Arauco is a subsidiary of fuel and forestry conglomerate Copec SA(COPEC.SN), which is the heaviest weighted share on the Ipsa blue-chipstock index.

Copec was gaining 0.5% to 8,080.00 Chilean pesos ($15.32) midday Wednesday, while the Ipsa was also up 0.5%.

-By Anthony Esposito, Dow Jones Newswires; 56-2-715-8929; [e-mail]