The investment in the construction industry in Uruguay soared 26.45% last year over 2011 and reached seven billion dollars, of which 40% correspond to the Brazilian-Chilean pulp mill, Montes del Plata, the country’s largest investment in years equivalent to 2 billion dollars. However there are storm clouds ahead.
Uruguay’s economy grew faster than economists expected in the third quarter, spurred by increased construction, transportation and communications activity. GDP expanded 3% from a year earlier, the central bank said on Thursday on its website. The economy grew 1.2 percent from the second quarter, the bank said.
Brazilian group JBS-Friboi, a leading global exporter of meat products, has inaugurated an industrial complex for pulp production with an investment of 6.2 billion Reais (approx 3 billion dollars).
The Chilean group Arauco, an affiliate of the pulp and paper Copec Enterprises announced on Thursday that together with its European partner they had subscribed 1.354 billion dollars in loans for the construction of a pulp plant in Uruguay.
The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) approved a 200 million dollars loan for Uruguay’s second major pulp mill investment, Celulosa y Energía Punta Pereira S.A. and Zona Franca Punta Pereira S.A., belonging to the Montes del Plata Group.
Foreign Direct Investment, FDI, in Uruguay was record in 2010 with 2.35 billion dollars (47.8% higher than in 2009) according to the latest report on global investment from the UN Conference on Trade and Development, UNCTAD. FDI represented 30.5% of total gross investment in Uruguay last year.
The construction of Uruguay’s second pulp mill, which includes a power plant and port facilities have been authorized following the approval of the Montes del Plata environment policies.
The scarcity of qualified labour and the increase in costs have become a growing concern for the pulp mill that Chilean and Scandinavian investors are building in Conchillas, Uruguay.