The Monte Alegre farm was founded in 1804 by the Priest Joaquim Amaral Gurgel, who at that time was one of the main landowners in the municipality. In the year 1824, the Monte Alegre and Taquaral farms were joined to form Engenho do Monte Alegre.
Pedro Morganti purchased Monte Alegre in 1910 and in 1924 set up Refinadora Paulista S.A. Twenty-seven years later, Pedro Morganti’s heirs started to build the paper mill, to make use of the sugar cane bagasse pulp from the Plant. The Paper Mill was opened on October 24, 1953.
The Silva Gordo family purchased Refinadora Paulista in 1971 and a year later the paper mill was modernized and began to use eucalyptus pulp as a raw material.
Indústria de Papel Piracicaba (IPP) was created in 1980, at which time Usina Monte Alegre closed down for good and was henceforth under the control of the Simão Group.
In 1992, Papel Simão initiated negotiations with Votorantim Celulose e Papel (VCP), which took over the Piracicaba, Jacareí and Mogí das Cruzes units besides the distributor KSR.
On September 1, 2009, VCP merged with Aracruz Celulose S/A, giving rise to Fibria Celulose S/A, of which the paper mill is a part.
During almost 2 years growing together with Fibria, the assets and human capital caused the mill to become a national reference in the production of specialty papers, achieving levels of excellence in the production and trading of the products and services.
After this successful track record, on September 30, 2011, OJI HOLDINGS CORPORATION, world leader in the segment, acquired the specialty paper mill that produces 169 thousand ton/year of papers.
With these images, OJI PAPÉIS ESPECIAIS relives important moments of its history that is an integral part of the Monte Alegre district.
Special acknowledgements: Balu Guidotti (photo collection of the Morganti Family), to photographer José Luiz Tonin and to artist Geraldo Zaratim (collection of the Monte Alegre district).
