CMPC

Company overview

Empresas CMPC S.A. is a large Chilean forest-products group headquartered in Santiago. Founded in 1920, it operates across forestry, pulp, wood products, paper and packaging, alongside tissue and personal-care products through Softys. Packaging sits within this wider industrial and consumer-products business.

Company background and international scale

CMPC’s 2025 Integrated Report records US$7.475 billion in sales to third parties, 27,117 direct employees and 53 production plants. Its reporting perimeter covers operations in 12 countries. These are dated group figures for 2025, rather than a current capacity or headcount statement for the packaging business alone.

The group’s forestry and manufacturing base includes Chile and Brazil, while its other businesses and commercial network extend across Latin America and international markets. This combination gives CMPC several roles in the fibre economy: resource management, industrial materials production, packaging conversion and branded consumer goods.

From forest resources to industrial and consumer products

Forestry and wood products form the upstream base, including managed pine and eucalyptus plantations, sawn timber, plywood and engineered-wood products. Pulp manufacturing supplies softwood and hardwood kraft pulp for paper, tissue, packaging and other fibre applications. CMPC’s pulp mills include Laja, Pacífico and Santa Fe in Chile and Guaíba in Brazil.

Paperboard and packaging cover distinct outputs. Boxboard makes paperboard for packaging and printing. Sack Kraft supplies multiwall paper sacks for industrial uses, while Corrugados combines recovered-paper activities with paper, corrugated boxes and moulded-pulp packaging. Edipac distributes paper and board and also produces handled paper bags. The Chilean corrugated operations are subject to the sale agreement described below.

Softys is the group’s consumer and professional hygiene business. Its range includes toilet tissue, paper towels, napkins, infant and adult diapers, feminine-care products and hygiene supplies for organisations. It is a substantial part of CMPC’s identity alongside the upstream and packaging businesses.

CMPC introduced a value-chain organisational structure during 2025, with forestry, industrial and commercial functions for pulp and boxboard, a wood-and-packaging vice presidency, and Softys managed separately. The 2025 report retains the earlier Celulosa, Biopackaging and Softys reporting categories for comparability. The Biopackaging name on commercial pages therefore needs to be read alongside the more recent organisational and portfolio disclosures.

Environmental management, conservation and circularity

Environmental work extends across forest management and industrial operations. CMPC describes native-forest protection, restoration of degraded ecosystems, wildlife corridors and protection of watercourses and habitats. Its biodiversity programme also addresses restoration associated with historical conversion of native forests; commercial plantations and native-forest conservation have different purposes and should be described separately.

Energy and water management are material operating issues for pulp and paper mills. CMPC reports that approximately 82% of its total energy consumption came from renewable sources in 2025, including biomass, black liquor and renewable electricity. Its water programme includes recovery and recirculation projects at mills such as Guaíba, Pacífico and Laja. The stated goal to reduce industrial water use per tonne of product by 25% is dated 2026; it should be distinguished from reported annual results.

Circularity includes paper and cardboard recovery for reuse as fibre, as well as the recovery of industrial byproducts. CMPC reports that approximately 3.03 million tonnes of non-hazardous waste were recovered or valorised in 2025, representing about 98% of the non-hazardous waste it generated. This corporate waste-management measure is different from the recycling rate of packaging sold to customers.

The group is also developing bio-based materials. In 2026, CMPC and the University of Concepción’s Technological Development Unit reported commissioning a lignin pilot plant in Coronel, Chile. The facility supports scaling trials and validation of possible applications as alternatives to petroleum-derived inputs. It represents pilot-stage development, rather than proof that every application is already commercially established.

These activities are relevant to the environmental footprint of a resource-intensive industrial group. The useful assessment connects each programme to its sites, reporting period and measured outcome. A renewable-fibre input, a corporate energy result and a finished package’s end-of-life performance answer different questions.

2026 portfolio update: Chilean corrugated-business sale agreement

On 23 September 2026, CMPC agreed to sell its Chilean corrugated business to Smurfit Westrock for US$420 million. The announced scope includes Envases Impresos Cordillera and Chilena de Moldeados, covering a recycled-containerboard mill, three corrugated plants, a moulded-tray facility and the associated fibre-collection network. CMPC’s Softys plant in Puente Alto is excluded.

The announcements make the transaction subject to regulatory approval and other closing conditions. Smurfit Westrock expects completion in the first half of 2027; CMPC says it will continue managing the affected operations until closing. This is a change to a defined Chilean business, rather than a sale of the whole CMPC group. A current profile must retain that pending-transaction status.

Updated 1 November 2026: expanded the group overview and environmental coverage, added dated scale figures and clarified the pending Chilean corrugated-business sale.

Sources

1. CMPC. Reporte Integrado 2025, published 13 April 2026: company identification, history, organisational transition and operating scale, especially pp. 2, 24, 34–35, 48, 52 and 70.
2. CMPC. Our History; Business; and Biopackaging Area. Official portfolio descriptions checked 1 November 2026.
3. CMPC. Ecosystems and Biodiversity Conservation; Energy Management and Efficiency; Water Management; and Product Stewardship. Company-reported 2025 performance and current programme descriptions checked 1 November 2026.
4. CMPC Pulp. Lignin pilot-plant announcement, 2026. Facility purpose and pilot-stage development.
5. CMPC and Smurfit Westrock. Chilean corrugated-business sale announcements, 23 September 2026; CMPC Pulp English republication, 28 September 2026. Transaction scope, conditions and expected timing checked 1 November 2026.