Unipar is the leader in chlorine and caustic soda production in South America, with over 50 years of history. Could you introduce the company?

Founded in 1969, Unipar is a publicly listed Brazilian company, now in its 5th generation of family-led business. Founded in São Paulo, Unipar started off with asset ownership in different industries, but gradually reconfigured into a fully focused chemical company, especially following the acquisition of Solvay’s Indupa plant in 2016. Today, we are a leader in the production of chlorine and soda and the second largest producer of PVC in South America. Currently, Unipar is present in Brazil and Argentina, with offices in São Paulo and Buenos Aires, and factories in Santo André and Cubatão (SP) and in Bahía Blanca (AR), in addition to building a new plant in Camaçari, in the state of Bahia. Besides our 1,500 direct employees, Unipar also generates another 1,500 jobs/year from indirect support services. 

Unipar has recently signed three projects to produce renewable energy. Could you elaborate on these? 

Unipar has signed two joint ventures for self-production of renewable energy: two wind farms in Bahia and Rio Grande do Norte and a solar park in Minas Gerais, all three to be operational by the end of this year. With these, we will be generating 80% of our total energy consumption from green sources (about 600 MW/year), planning that, from 2025 onwards, to tackle the remaining 20%. These investments are important in many ways. First, our processes are highly dependent on energy: to produce chlorine and caustic soda, we start from a mixture of salt and water (called brine), apply electricity to break the molecule into different inorganic compounds, and obtain hydrogen. By using green electricity, we therefore obtain green hydrogen. By changing our energy matrix, we are also going to be reducing our energy carbon footprint by almost 10%, not to mention we will realize important savings in terms of our energy costs. 

What have been the most recent milestones and developments in the company’s evolution?

Within our pillar of sustainable growth, the expansion plan for our Santo André plant, which celebrated its 75th anniversary on July 25th, entered its final phase in line with our widely communicated schedule and confirming our disciplined execution. The Artemisa project, which received total investments of BRL100 million, started the ramp-up of the operation, with the connection of the electrolyser furnace that had been delivered in April, as reported in the first quarter of 2023. Thus, we reaffirm the start-up deadline for the second half of this year. The new structures will be responsible for increasing capacity by 15% of hydrochloric acid in the unit. It is also important to highlight the construction of the new Unipar plant, which will be installed in the Petrochemical Complex of Camaçari, in Bahia, which is on schedule, with a forecast to start operating in 2024. When in operation, the unit will have a total capacity of 20,000 t/y of chlorine and 22,000 t/y of caustic soda, produced following the safest, most modern, and eco-efficient criteria available, ensuring the intelligent use of energy and other inputs. Advances at the Bahía Blanca unit also allowed us to expand the production capacity of anhydrous caustic soda (pearl), rising from the current 18,000 t/y to 31,000 t/y by the end of 2023.

How has the company performed on the Sao Paolo Stock Exchange in the last year and what makes the stock a good investment proposition?

In 2022, Unipar recorded the best operating result in its history, with a net income of BRL1.3 billion, EBITDA of BRL 2.6 billion and revenue of BRL 7.3 billion in 2022. Even pressured by external factors, Unipar continues to do its part. We achieved solid results and kept the financial and operational equation healthy. We recorded the third-best semester in Unipar's history when we look at EBITDA. In the first half of 2023, we recorded BRL178 million in Capex. This number is significantly higher than the record in the first half of 2022, when we allocated BRL75 million. We are a capital-intensive company and cycles of low and high prices are part of the company's multi-year plan.