When only eighteen years old, Ceará-born José Júlio de Andrade began work as an itinerant salesman, moving along the banks of the Jari River in Eastern Amazonia. On the remote boundary between Pará and Amapá States, this region is rich in brazilnut and rubber trees. Ten years later, he was the richest man in the region, tapping rubber, gathering brazilnuts and raising cattle, selling medicinal herbs, andiroba and copaiba oils, aromatized seeds and the hides of wild animals. At one stage, he owed 25,000 head of cattle, exporting brazilnuts to Europe, particularly Germany.
At the age of seventy, Colonel José Júlio sold his businesses to Portuguese and Brazilian businessmen who set up a new company (Jari Indústria e Comércio) and also began to export Brazilian hardwoods, as well as trading in assorted merchandize through entrepots on the borders of the Jari, Paru, Caracuru, Cajari and Panacari Rivers, based on the same extractivist activities mentioned above.
US entrepreneur Daniel K. Ludwig, who was 74 years old at the time, purchased Jari Indústria e Comércio from its Portuguese owners, including an area of 1,734,606.01 hectares in the Jari region. He then opened a new forestry and ranching enterprise: Jari Florestal e Agropecuária Ltda. Famed as a great visionary and entrepreneur, Ludwig decided to produce high-grade woodpulp and paper in this region from reforested areas. This was the start of the Jari Project, one of the largest and most ambitious agri-business programs of its times.
A few years later in 1976, a modern woodpulp plant was being built on the other side of the world in the Ishikawajima shipyard at Kure, Japan, as well as a thermo-power plant with a power generation capacity of 55MW. For this venture, Ishikawajima used an innovative method known as the Industrial Platform System (IPS) based on platforms weighing 30,000 tons
Despite exhaustive tree species studies, Gmelina arborea presented problems in terms of adapting to the soils of Amazonia, and was also susceptible to fungus attacks that lowered its output. The species that proved best adapted to local conditions were pine and eucalypt.
The pulp mill and the power plant finally left the Japanese shipyard at Kure and were towed across the Pacific and Indian Oceans, rounding the Cape of Good Hope, traversing the Atlantic and crossing Amazonas State to the banks of the remote Jari River: a journey that covered 25,000 kilometers and lasted three months.
Finally, the two platforms were seated on 40,000 maçaranduba hardwood pilings, where they still remain today.
In addition to providing all the infrastructure required to produce woodpulp – including a river port, 71 kilometers of railroad track and the Serra do Areão airport – Daniel Ludwig also opened two other companies in this region: Cadam, for mining and processing kaolin and Mineração Santa Lucrécia, working with refractory bauxite.
In May 1979, the pulp mill started up operations, producing 120,000 tons during its first year. A highly productive agri-business, it followed a trail-blazing model for sustainable development.
Its annual output reached 220,000 tons. Two years later, stock control of the Jari Project was transferred to a consortium of 23 Brazilian companies headed by the Caemi Group. In 1992, its annual woodpulp output topped 280,000 tons, using almost its entire installed capacity.
An operating accident that involved the pulp mill recovery boiler halted its operations for eight months.
Eucalypt planting on an industrial scale, with all woodpulp being produced from this species.
From February this year onwards, woodpulp was produced only from eucalypts.
A fire in the main panel of the pulp mill halted its activities for seven months.
The company started up operations again early in the year, continuing to produce eucalypt woodpulp.
At the end of the year Jarcel Celulose S.A. was set up to handle the operating aspects of the Jari Project.
A 100% Brazilian holding company, Saga Investimentos e Participações, owned by the Amoroso family through the ORSA GROUP, Saga Investimentos e Participações submitted the winning debt-restructuring bid for the Jari Project (by then calculated at US$ 415 million) and took over stock control of Jari.
Planted timber production activities guaranteed through ISO 14001 certification.
An Orsa Foundation Unit was established at Monte Dourado (Pará State).
A new phase begins for Jari Celulose at a new pace. In 2001, Jari set a new annual production record of 326,300 tons.
Through this accomplishment, it showed the market that it is changing the course of its history.
Jari sets a new annual sales record in 2002.
Having completed the first stage of its investment plan, Jari sets new annual, monthly and daily output records.
Jari is certified by the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) in August.
On November 25, Jari Celulose was awarded the ABS Industrial Safety Prize, in the pulp and paper segment.
Jari sets new annual record in 2004: 358,200 tons (up 5% compared to 2003).
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