Montes del Plata
Montes del Plata in southwest Uruguay is a eucalyptus wood pulp unit run as a joint venture together with Chilean pulp producer Arauco.
Montes del Plata owns 190 000 hectares of land and leases 56 500 hectares of land. The unit also delivers its surplus energy of around 500 GWh per year to Uruguay’s electricity grid, which equates to around 5% of the country’s total energy needs.
Facts about Montes del Plata
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Stora Enso Business Area: Biomaterials
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Country: Uruguay
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Products: Short-fibre pulp
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Annual capacity: 750 000 tonnes
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Number of employees: 630
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Founded: The company was founded in 2009 and the mill was inaugurated in 2014
About our operations in Uruguay
Stora Enso is a co-owner of Montes del Plata, a joint operation established in 2009. Montes del Plata operates a pulp production unit and manages tree plantations in Uruguay.Our activities in Uruguay are regulated by Uruguayan environmental authorities and subject to continuous oversight. The plantations are established on land that has been designated for forestry use under Uruguay’s forestry law, which has been in place for decades.
Biodiversity and land use
Stora Enso’s joint ventures in Uruguay or elsewhere do not convert natural forests or other native ecosystems into plantations.In Uruguay, plantations managed by our joint venture Montes del Plata have been established on former pastureland*. All land used for plantations has been designated for forest use by the state. Montes del Plata complies with all laws and regulations and establishes plantations in line with best practices. Montes del Plata restores degraded native grasslands and forests by controlling invasive species and works towards the conservation of native fauna species – particularly those at risk of extinction – in their Bioparque M´Bopicuá: Biopark | M'Bopicuá Biopark - Conservation of Native Fauna and Flora of Uruguay.
Furthermore, biodiversity protection is an integral part of forest certification. Stora Enso promotes and participates in the development of forest certification systems. In 2025, 99% of land in wood production and harvesting owned and managed by Stora Enso was covered by forest certification schemes.
Eucalyptus plantations impact on water resources
Public research and more than a decade of monitoring in areas where Stora Enso's joint ventures operate indicate that responsibly managed eucalyptus plantations have not shown significant adverse effects on local water resources. The same studies have not identified evidence linking these plantations to desertification in the monitored areas
In both Uruguay and Brazil, water quantity and quality have been monitored and studied in relation to eucalyptus plantations for more than 20 years. Research findings have not identified significant differences in water impacts between eucalyptus plantations and other dominant forms of land use in the areas studied.
*The dominant native vegetation in Uruguay is grassland, majority of which have been converted to pastures and agricultural fields. Plantations managed by our joint venture Montes del Plata have been established on former pastureland.
Contact details
Address
Montes del Plata
Ruta N° 55
Departamento de Colonia
Uruguay
Telephone
+598 4577 5000
Website
www.montesdelplata.com.uy
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