Good morning and welcome to Klabin's conference call. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. Later, we will conduct a question-and-answer session, and instructions will be given at that time. We kindly ask that, for the benefit of time, each analyst asks a maximum of two questions. As a reminder, this conference call is being recorded, and the presentation will be in Portuguese with simultaneous translation into English. All participants will be able to choose which language they wish to hear by clicking on the interpretation button, and the language of the presentation by clicking on the Portuguese presentation screen located above. I'd like to make a brief announcement for those participants following us in English.
Originally in Portuguese. To switch, please press the interpretation button on the platform and then select the English language. For English presentation, click on the top to view the English presentation screen. Eventuais declarações realizadas durante.
Any statements eventually made during this conference call in connection with Klabin's business outlook, projections, operating and financial targets, and potential growth should be understood as merely forecasts based on the company's management expectations in relation to the future of Klabin. Such expectations are highly dependent on market conditions, on Brazil's overall economic performance, and on industry and international market behavior, and are therefore subject to change. With us here today are Mr. Cristiano Teixeira, CEO, Marcos Ivo, CFO and IRO, and the other company's officers. Initially, Mr. Cristiano and Mr. Ivo will comment on the company's performance during the first quarter of 2025. After that, the officers will be available to answer any questions that you may ask. Now, I'll turn the floor over to Mr. Cristiano. Please go ahead.
Obrigado a todos. Bem-vindos ao nosso.
Thank you. Welcome to our conference call discussing the first quarter of 2025. Starting with comments about our operating performance on slide three, we see total sales of 906,000 tons, 38% in pulp, 34% in papers, and 28% in packaging. These numbers, as I was talking in the past, recently, when this becomes a routine in terms of volume, it's going to be similar to a third for each category. You are going to see on the new slides that I brought that looking at Klabin annually, it has more of this feature of one-third, one-third, one-third. Here, seasonally, we have a period with a volume of packaging in the first quarter that tends to be below the average for the year when the peak is reached mostly in the second and third quarters.
Going back to our performance, I'd like to point at the conversion level, the integration actually that we have with container board papers of 860. I always say that this number depends on the international price for papers. This is the way we found to demonstrate to you our flexibility, being able to operate both in our packaging department and industrial bags with a conversion and corrugated boxes and industrial bags in the sense of integrating more papers depending on the cost and benefit of international markets, international prices.
Another interesting point is that in the segment that we call as market paper, the coated boards and kraft liner, this trend of the volume of coated boards, always with the impact of Paper Machine 28, the trend is for us to see a higher volume of coated board in the future, precisely with those contracts that as soon as they are implemented and the products are registered and approved and the machines ramp up curve, we always say that the CapEx has been done and now we're in a process of increasing a bit of this volume with the ramp up. Once it happens, until we reach the company's normal levels, the trend is for the volume of coated boards to increase compared to the volume of kraft liner, at least in this operational slide.
Now, talking about the result, EBITDA here, what's interesting is that paper and packaging represent 63%, pulp 37%. Paper is very important. In this slide, in this pie chart specifically, in the pulp results, I'd like to point to the performance of fluff that is already responding to a third of our pulp results. It represents 12% in volume of pulp, but 30% in our results. Considering that we have long fiber and can access markets with high added value, and I'll talk a little bit more about this in some of the other slides that I brought you that are new to some of you. Moving on to slide number four, here we see the breakdown and visually we bring to you. We understand that we've been provoking a change in the way we communicate with you, but always doing this very cautiously.
First, talking a little bit more about operating performance. This slide three replaced that opening speech and we brought it in a more visual way so that it is easy for you to deal with these numbers. When we look at slide four and evolution of this new way of communicating with you, again, and always referring to how we do it cautiously so that we can have better and better communication. On slide four, we remind you of the products that we operate in each segment. Bringing here our partner brands, where we're very honored and proud to disclose. On short fiber, we usually have our main clients, but we may also bring a focus in the product diversification, and we're going to evolve this presentation to also show you innovations.
In looking at the logos of the short fiber brand products, the brands that we supply, and just for curiosity, for example, on Kleenex tissues, in addition to short fiber in the product, there is also the presence of coated boards that is also made by Klabin in this reference. And fluff, the main reference is the major brand, especially long fiber products. The diversity of this product is incredible, considering how easy it is to operate with a product with higher added value in the fluff segment. Here we make this reference to the high performance of our fibers, and we are going to bring you market share information, always interacting very transparently. 80% of the plus market share in Brazil will always provide the market share of the Brazilian market here. Long-term partnerships with strategic partners, we are always seeking and working on long-term contracts.
What makes us stand out is the fact that long fiber can be a one-stop shop for hygiene products, where we are able to provide long fiber and short fiber in our products, the presence in premium segments, again, pointing at the long fiber side. Noting that strategically, last year we concluded the acquisition of a plot for long fiber here in Brazil that increased our productivity in our product portfolio and approved already, as I mentioned, in the main global brands. Now moving to slide five, I show you some reference of our coated boards on the top. We always mention the wide portfolio that we could have. Coated boards are a very diverse product in terms of products on shelves. These are some of the main ones here. Obviously, our container board as well, which is a very dynamic product in the market.
We supply manufacturers of corrugated boxes in Brazil and in the world, but not only that, kraft liner today has other uses as well. Klabin has been present for more than 50 years in various markets in Brazil and the world, providing raw material to converters around the world. This is a reference to our position always in premium markets. Our market share in the local coated board market is 40%. Our market share is close to 60% in kraft liner. The fact that we also have virgin fiber with a share of long fiber allows us to participate in products such as products for beverage, beer, milk that have a huge differential due to the long fiber. We are strongly associated with the food and beverage industry, with a portfolio that, considering, is always in constant growth and also in long-term partnerships.
Finally, in my first moment here with you on slide six, I also show you our packaging units, our packaging units with industrial bags and corrugated boxes. First, industrial bags with clients with whom we have great partnerships in the development of bags and a lot of development with our clients. Important developments that as we bring you more information also in terms of innovation, this will be clearer. In corrugated boxes, this diversity that you see here in the sector that you all know, in part playing the role of transporting products to supermarkets, but now more and more also with that brand component, Klabin is part of the solution, bringing Kraft liner paper with a higher printing quality and the products being increasingly more present in shelves as well. Here, the highlights, one of the biggest producers of industrial bags in the world.
That's our reference, our benchmark as a manufacturer with 50% of market share here in Brazil, 22% of market share for corrugated boxes. Noting that in our other papers business unit, container board, we also sell to our competitors. We are positioned in exporting resilient sectors, always tied to food and beverage or civil construction. We have a very diverse client portfolio. The share of one client in our client is managed, and we always address that in a very organized way where one client cannot have a single very important fact at Klabin. That is something that we have been following for many years. Recognized quality and service level, we have a lot of packaging systems in the area of fruits, for example, and tobacco and others where we have equipment placed at our clients' factories, providing the full service, making the final package with equipment owned by Klabin.
Finally, our strong presence in e-commerce, especially the two main e-commerce players in Brazil. Klabin has a huge representativeness in corrugated boxes. Now I'll turn the floor to Marcos Ivo and I'll come back in a second for us to conclude this first step.
Thank you, Cristiano. Good morning, everyone. On page seven, on slide seven, I'll give you more details for the results of the quarter. The sales volume was 906,000 tons and appeared a decrease by 2% compared to the first quarter 2024. This reduction is explained by lower production volume due to one-off events for maintenance already addressed and resolved. I highlight that the plants are operating as usual, including with all the container board machines in production, as highlighted in our earnings release.
Net revenue in the first quarter of the year reached BRL 4.9 billion, up 10% from the same period last year. This increase was driven by higher prices for kraft liner and packaging and by the depreciation of the real against the dollar, emphasizing the benefits of Klabin's business model at the various stages of the market. The adjusted EBITDA reached BRL 1.9 billion in the first quarter of the year, up 13% as compared to the same period in 2024, with an EBITDA margin of 38%, an increase of one percentage point as compared to the first quarter of 2024. Let's move on to slide eight. Total cash cost per ton was BRL 3,335 in the quarter. The cash cost of the period was affected by lower production volume. We continue working.
We are confident in the production ramp up for Puma II and in our initiatives toward cost optimization. We emphasize our commitment to the guidance for total cash cost per ton for 2025, according to the material fact announced on December 10 of last year. Moving on to slide nine, Klabin ended the first quarter of 2025 with net debt of BRL 30.5 billion, a reduction of approximately BRL 2.8 billion as compared to the end of the fourth quarter of 2024. This reduction is explained by the appreciation of the real against the dollar, by receiving the first installment of the plateau project, and a positive free cash flow in the first quarter.
The leverage measured by the net debt indicator over the adjusted EBITDA in dollars ended the quarter at 3.9 times, stable as compared to the fourth quarter of 2024, and within the parameters established by the company's financial indebtedness policy. Let's move on to the next slide. Slide 10. Klabin continues with strong liquidity, ending March at BRL 9.3 billion in liquidity. The liquidity is comprised of BRL 6.5 billion in cash and the remaining amount in undrawn revolving credit facility. We follow with a good debt profile. The average debt maturity at the end of the quarter was 88 months, and the average cost of the debt in dollars of 5.7% per year. Moving on to slide 11, Klabin delivered a sound positive free cash flow in the quarter at BRL 409 million.
This result shows the current situation of the company, which is totally focused on the production ramp up in Puma II, in the discipline towards costs and CapEx, and consequently generating free cash flow and deleveraging. In the last 12 months, the adjusted free cash flow totaled BRL 3.6 billion, equivalent to a free cash flow yield of 14%. Finally, slide 12, the shareholder remuneration in the last 12 months totaled BRL 1 billion and 477 million. This amount is equivalent to a dividend yield of 5.8%. I also highlight the approval on May the 6th by the board of directors of dividends totaling BRL 279 million that will be paid on May 22nd. I give the floor back to Cristiano, who will give further details on business trends.
Thank you.
Now we move to our last slide on this first part, and then we'll move on to the Q&A. I'd like to remind you again, this is a thermometer form that we intend to transmit here, the best way possible and transparent for the market read and the performance that we expect from Klabin for the second half of 2025 compared to the first quarter of 2025. In this first row, where we have, we call it market, it's a more neutral view from Klabin, simply looking at the market, understanding what are the trends and how we see the behavior. This is not an explicit reference in terms of price or volume. It's a combination of both. It's simply the fact that, or the fact of how the market's being seen as the first row, the other two, sales volume and prices.
We do seek to provide a reference of Klabin's performance in the second quarter compared to the first. Starting on the first row, how Klabin sees the market and the short fiber, considering everything that we've been seeing, and especially bringing as the main reference in the sector. China was struggling to export precisely as a result of the tariff policy implemented in these last 45-60 days, should present some difficulty to export to the United States. How the Chinese market is going to behave, if that's going to be consumed internally or exported to other markets around the world, is the main question here. Right now we see a negative trend, the low part of neutrality as we see here compared to what we can see in this first quarter. It is a trend of seeing a worsening in this market.
That will obviously begin in China, and whether or not this will contaminate other markets depends precisely on which way this tariff policy turns to. There is little information, little visibility here for us to be able to discuss. Now, for fluff, the result is quite the opposite, but for the same reasons, fluff, the main fluff exporter to China is the United States, and there will be difficulties due to the tariff policy. Klabin at this time and any other long fiber manufacturer in the world comes up as an alternative. There is a trend of improvement, especially in shipments to China. China is the main driver of the bulk market, without a doubt. As far as market consumption and the effects here are opposite.
Short fiber, since it comes, finished goods come out of China to the United States, we see a worse perspective than what we see today. In terms of fluff, we see a better perspective precisely because this product will have to go to China, and countries like Brazil will benefit from this. Now, on papers, specifically coated boards, we see it in neutrality. This is a market also analyzing this huge tariff policy effect. In the short term, we do not see such an effect, but probably if this continues, when we bring references in the third quarter, if the tariffs remain high, there will be an effect on coated boards. China itself will probably present coated boards with low added value due to worse technology. They are more commoditized and will be placed in other regions of the world to offset the lack of exports to the United States.
This effect carries more inertia than the short fiber pulp, but it's something we have to wait and see. Since Klabin is exposed to virgin fiber coated boards and making a reference of that higher added value, especially due to technology, in that case, the effect may be positive for Klabin. As for Kraft liner, here, the main question is whether the United States is entering a recession or not. We see the shipment of corrugated boxes in the United States going down, and whether this will revert into Kraft liner exports. At least initially, this export volume hasn't happened as it used to happen normally. This direct communication used to be direct. There's a drop in corrugated boxes shipment in the United States.
The Kraft liner price goes down around the world, but this is not as clear now, especially considering production stoppages in container board in the U.S. Definitely, the American product will be placed in alternative markets to China, for example. Continuing with the same comments that I was making, especially for pulp, of the products that the U.S. exports to China in packaging, also on this first row for packaging, it is a very clear segment. The peak of consumption occurs in the transition from the third to the fourth quarter, from between September and October, but it starts in the second quarter. The first quarter and the end of the fourth quarter are the lowest volumes.
The second and third quarters, especially the transition from the third to the fourth, is where we reach peak consumption for the holidays at the end of the year in terms of corrugated boxes. We see a better demand in the second quarter when compared to the first. This is simply due to seasonality. Industrial bags, we see as neutral. I talked about this first row. I'll repeat myself, and I apologize for repeating, but to make it clear, I was talking about the first row market view, how we see the market irrespective of Klabin. Now, from what I'll start talking about now, the second and third rows, I'm talking about Klabin's performance. At Klabin, starting with short fiber pulp and sales volume, we tend to see a higher volume.
We get out of neutrality and start to see a volume increase compared to the first quarter. This is mainly due to shipment effect. The same reason for fluff. We tend to sell and ship more in the second quarter when compared to the first, simply because of operational aspects and our commitments with clients. The trend is to have a higher volume. Coated boards is the same. Kraft liner is the same. The only exception here that stays in neutrality, not a drop, but we see neutrality in the industrial bags compared to the first quarter. It is the only segment where we should sell the same or similar shipment volume from the first quarter. All other segments tend to see an increase in sales volume compared to the first quarter.
Now, on prices, aiming towards the end of my presentation, the last roll of slide 13, we see neutrality at Klabin for short fiber, noting that Klabin has a volume in which we can focus more on the domestic market and Europe with low exposure, in this case, to China for short fiber. As for fluff, we see an improvement in terms of price at Klabin, where the back order or backlog will be of prices slightly worse. Get out of Klabin and we start getting into the better prices. So we see an improvement at Klabin. Coated boards, the majority of our clients are in contract. So we also see it remaining neutral. The prices are more stable in the company in the long term.
Kraft liner, based on that comment that I made of where we see the United States placing an additional excess of paper that they do not no longer export to China. At Klabin, since we work with a low backlog, we should probably start feeling an effect in terms of price of the shipments that will have an effect on the average price for Klabin as well, at least at that moment. Corrugated boxes, large contracts, some of them expiring the contract. There is a slight improvement in the second half compared to the first, but these are already contracts already signed with our clients. Industrial bags, with the mix, we see it slightly below neutrality. Some downward trend compared to the first quarter, a lot more due to mix rather than the drop on product price. Quite the opposite.
We have been able to place it as the main benchmark, but on the other hand, that also includes industrial bags. We've been able to add the inflation, include the inflation to our prices, specifically on corrugated boxes for some years now. I would like you to please look into this. The price in US dollars of corrugated boxes in recent years and the price makeup has been showing a very positive behavior. This is in line. If we were to analyze it strategically, this is in line with what we're being seen in consolidation of the sector, noting that we had consolidation of International Paper in the past by Klabin in the recent past. There's also consolidation of US Rock with Smurfit more recently.
The market has been consolidating and the dollar price of corrugated boxes has been more competitive in Brazil compared to other periods that we saw in the past. The recomposition of price above the inflation has been seen. We have been able to gain market share and convert most of our papers, showing stability, just as in the coated boards, the price stability at Klabin. With this, I conclude the fourth part and we will move on to the Q&A. Thank you very much.
Ladies and gentlemen, we will begin the questions and answers session. In order to ask a question, please click on raise hand. To withdraw your question from the queue, please click on lower hand. Our first question, Rafael Barcellos, Bradesco BBI, please go ahead.
Good morning. Thank you for taking my questions.
My first question to Cristiano, I'd like to hear your view about the company's operational moment. If you could talk a little bit more about the non-recurring maintenance stoppage at the pulp operation, especially how much you expect in terms of production for the year. Still talking about operating performance, what's your assessment of the Paper Machine 28 and its performance? Here specifically, I'd like to understand about the production mix for PM28 as you see it for the year, especially the volume of coated boards, how much we should expect, considering the market challenges that you addressed about the increase of Chinese exports and so on. That's my first question. My second question is more on corrugated boxes, aimed towards Douglas.
It caught my attention that in the market thermometer in your presentation, you say the demand is neutral, but when we look at compared to the dashboard of last quarter, it seems that the demand expectation improved a little bit. Douglas, if you can tell us a little bit more about these environmental higher interest rates, whether or not it affects your order portfolio and how you feel the client sentiment and this reading that the perception has improved or not, if I'm right or if it's more a seasonable thing. Finally, if it's possible, Cristiano was talking briefly now about this price recomposition, but there was also over past years a margin recomposition as well in the corrugated boxes industry. If you can talk about the dynamic of the OCC, that would be good for us to understand profitability. Thank you.
Thank you, Rafael.
Douglas is on standby here, but I'll start answering your first question. In operational terms, we have a good expectation for the year despite issues that we had at the beginning of the year. We see 200,000 tons of total production in Klabin in 2025 compared to 2024. The perspective is positive. The outlook is positive. The one-off issues occur and this is not restricted to Klabin. You know the industry quite well. The complex sites, I'd like to remind you that we have a plant that's one of the most complex in the world in Ortigueira. It's a plant that has the reputation of being one of the most competitive in the world in all products that they operate. It does bring difficulties in the beginning, especially when operating a machine as complex as PM28. This is not structural. This is solved.
Those were temporary issues and so much so that you saw on Marcos Ivo's presentation when he talks about the pursuit of the cash cost guidance of the year remaining the same. We shall continue to pursue this and at the end of the year, we'll deliver the reference of cash cost between BRL 3,100-BRL 3,200, exceeding what we saw in the first quarter, especially in particular due to these operational issues that are sorted and solved throughout the year. We will have a good year in terms of operations with 200,000 tons at Klabin, more than what we saw in 2024. Paper Machine 28, the performance is going well. The machine is a high-tech machine for coated boards. It's the machine with the highest number of sensors, not only owned by Klabin, but it's a worldwide reference.
It's a very modern machine prepared to make the highest technology product, as you know, in liquid packaging. That's the high end in our industry. The machine continues along with the transition. We started with container boards in this machine and we're working on the translation for a coated board once it gets approved. There's no concern here, quite the opposite. Klabin is a robust company, a company that today, if we look at decades, it's much more robust and diverse, considering our product portfolio, white coated boards, brown coated boards. We're approved in the main brand of the world in all of our products. Klabin presents itself as a very robust company in terms of operations, cash costs, increasingly more competitive, and with an increasingly better vision as transmitted to you so that you can do your math. It is a positive operational moment for Klabin right now.
I'll turn the floor to Douglas and he will talk about corrugated boxes.
Thank you, Chris. Rafael, good morning. I'll take a step back and talk a little bit about 2024 to put 2025 into context. So 2024, the market grew a lot in square meters, more than 25%, more than 5%, and we grew more than 6%. We gained market share, Klabin. How do we see 2025? We're coming from a market with a high level of consumption. The year began more stable with a slight drop in the first two months, but in March, we already saw growth in the market, and we're talking about Em Papel, was stable, closed the first quarter stable, which is a very good indication because last year there was a very high level of growth compared to 2023.
Klabin in this first quarter was able to, with their portfolio, to see an increase in market share. We grew more than the market. As the market remained stable, as I said, we grew 1.6. How do we see price? Price, we've been able to include the inflation and recompose the margin as well, and this has been happening in recent years. The weakest quarter of the year, stable market, of growing more, and we went through this weakest moment quite well. The coming quarters, the coming months and the year, with Brazil with low unemployment rates, and we do not anticipate any issues, any problems. Quite the opposite. The next quarters are stronger, and we see a very good year ahead of us.
With the continuity of passing through prices above inflation in the market in coming quarters, stronger than the first quarter, and Klabin gaining market share, we see 2025 as a very good year for packaging.
Excellent. Thank you.
Next question. Tathiane Candini, JP Morgan. Please, you may go ahead.
Tudo bem, gente? Bom dia. Obrigada por pegar.
Good morning. Thank you for taking my questions. The first question is just a follow-up from the previous question when we talk about operational stability and pulp. Obviously, we understand as stabilities are recurring and they may occur at a given quarter, but they're a bit more expressive in the first quarter. If I'm not mistaken, there was a maintenance stoppage at the end of the year. It's about that machine.
Is there any advance of this maintenance stoppage, thinking about this higher stability in the first quarter, or was it actually solved and the schedule is maintained? The second question is about leverage. We saw a significant reduction of the company's leverage this quarter, and I'd like to understand. I think it's something that we discussed extensively in our last conversations last quarter, but I'd like to understand whether there's any change in your positioning in terms of new investments or which parameters you're monitoring and/or if the view remains of thinking of more investments starting as of 2027. Thank you.
Thank you, Tathiane. No, there's no reason to anticipate or advance any stoppage. Quite the opposite. The planning remains normal. The production curve is unfolding, and this is not restricted to Klabin, but there's nothing structural, no concerns, and there will be no change in our plan.
There's no reason for that. As for the CapEx allocation or capital allocation view, new investments, nothing's going to change. We'll remain in this line of deleveraging, very confident with the free cash flow that we'll generate in the next 18, 24, 36 months. There will be robust cash generations at Klabin, and free cash flow and deleverage will happen precisely due to that. There's no change in the company's view. Thank you.
Our next question comes from Daniel Sasson, Itau BBA.
Thank you, everyone. Good morning. My first question is for Nicolini. He's quiet today. Nicolini, we've seen in recent weeks a very important movement among the producers of pulp, divulging drops in the prices, especially in the resale market for pulp below $500.
If you could comment on the dynamics you've seen, and especially if you think that the lower volumes for the prices of pulp, the $550, for example, mentioned by some producers, or the $500 on resale, if that would be enough to stimulate this comeback of the demand, especially from China. I think that's an important point. If you think that the problem is larger due to the uncertainties of what will happen to the production levels in China due to trade war and not so much related to affordability. I think that would be interesting. My second question, you have already talked about the Paper Machine 28 and the expectation of converting Kraft liner to coated boards. Chris, if you could just remind us what is missing to ratify with the main clients or with your main one.
I think that the expectation was to have this already happened or we used a curve for the shift of coated boards that you gave in 2023, 2024. There was a speeding up of the process. It might take more time. I want to better understand today how confident you are in terms of this migration to be done as fast as possible for a high-value-added product. Thank you, everyone.
Thank you, Sasson. Nico is quiet because nobody had asked him any questions, but he's right beside me. He will answer. I'll come back for the second question.
Good morning, Sasson. Thank you for your question. Like Cristiano said, it is a challenging moment. We have to be cautious due to China and all the circumstances of tariffs.
However, the price adjustment made by a Latin American producer in April helped to have volumes for that month to flow better than what happened in March. In terms of resale, I have already said that here. The volume in resale is very low. It could even be used as a benchmark, but it is a low volume as compared to the volume that comes from the market. Talking about prices in the short term, we do not see an abrupt drop, as we have seen, not below $500, for example, and for some reasons, one of which is what involves the long fiber price. The price levels in China for long fiber are price levels that do not bring margins for Nordic manufacturers or Canadian ones that should limit or set bases for what has already been known. We have seen this in recent years.
If the price of the long fiber drops more than what we expect, and we do not see this happening right now, it will cause like the closure of some capacity. We have seen a Nordic manufacturer announcing a downtime of five weeks for maintenance and to remove market volume, especially because the current prices do not bring specific margin for this producer who has a new plant that is very competitive. Another important point, in spite of the marginal cost of production in China being below $500 today, it is valid for producers with new machinery. Those with old machinery still have a margin manufacturing cost above $500. If the prices reach this level, producers will be integrated and will start consuming the market pulp and not their own pulp.
This is a challenging scenario that needs we need to be more cautious, but we do not see a more abrupt drop than what we have seen.
Thank you, Nico. I am sorry for the follow-up. That is a much more abrupt drop. Do you mean the $550 price announced by the competitors in Latin America or $500 in the resale? $500 of the resale. Thank you.
Thank you, Nico. Sasson, in regards to Paper Machine 28, I will answer in the following way. We are within our business plan that was presented to you of the ramp-up and the ratification of the machine. What happened was that we had an expectation at some point of an improvement. Let me remind you, and this was not only Klabin's direction. I guess all markets, especially the American one, had a change in expectations for the beer volume after the pandemic.
There was a higher expectation between the business plan and this expectation that we created, and we signaled that it could be an improvement. What we are saying here is that we are going back to the business plan level. The improvement between now and the business plan, we might not be able to deliver, but we will deliver the business plan for the machine ramp-up. In terms of the ratification of the products, we have a number of products ratified in coated boards in Paper Machine 28, a lot of new things. We will bring for our next meeting and our next call. We will show you innovation. We have many innovations to be shown as of Paper Machine 28. Yes, we do have products that are more difficult to ratify.
This level of ratification difficulty and of demands from our clients is what makes Klabin a differentiated company for over 40 years, working with liquid packaging, for example. This is what makes this product difficult for new manufacturers to enter the market. It is restricted to very few manufacturers in the world, and Klabin is definitely one of the main ones. The partnership with the clients continues to be very good with recent trips of the top management of Klabin and the top management of these companies. The ratification is going well with a high level of demand. This is the differentiator of Klabin as compared to others in the near future.
Perfect, Chris. Thank you so much.
Our next question comes from Caio Ribeiro, Bank of America. The floor is yours.
Good morning, everyone. Thank you for the opportunity. My first question is about the fluff market.
I would like to further explore the tariff effects that were announced by China against the U.S., considering that a good part of the fluff capacity is in the U.S. and China imports a considerable volume of fluff. You mentioned that there is fluff from Latin America that is benefiting from that. Do you see any effect that could be reflected on growing premiums in the local price of fluff in Latin America as compared to short fiber? What would be the impact in decisions of product mix of fluff as compared to long fiber this year? That is the first question. The second one, exploring a little bit more the deleveraging and the capital allocation of the company.
I understand the focus today is the deleveraging, but also if you could give us more details in relation to the level of deleveraging you expect to reach before you consider a future expansion, what would be the timing for that that you would reach this level? Is anything going to change for the products that you believe are more attractive in terms of their expansion vis-à-vis the tariff scenario that has changed many of the products that you have exposure? Thank you.
Thank you, Caio. I'll start with Nico.
Good morning, Caio. Thank you for your question. Like Cristiano mentioned in his presentation, 80% of the fluff production is in North America. Obviously, there is an immediate impact in exports of those countries, both the U.S. and Canada, to China.
That has leveraged the sales of fluff from other producers in Brazil and in other geographies in Europe, for example. This movement is not restricted to China solely. The issues that involve tariffs for other geographies like Europe are not very clear. Many of these producers of sanitary pads are looking for alternatives, not only focusing on Americans. This is reflected on price increases that started in mid-2024 until this month of April. The trend is a positive one, considering price increases. This has not been reflected in our quarters yet due to the carryovers we've already mentioned previously, but it will be reflected not only as of the second quarter, but also the third quarter of this year. The expectation continues to be good. It is a market that has proven to be very resilient in recent years.
Considering the capacity, we are at the limit of our mix between fluff and long fiber in bales. The flexibility we have, and we always emphasize, is the fact that we can allocate volumes in the best way possible. Those volumes that are not contracted to make the operation increasingly more profitable.
Thank you, Nico. Caio, in relation to the deleveraging, that a fact we have our indebtedness policy, Klabin has, and you will see greater consistency both in giving guidance and in following them. The policy, obviously, is the greatest reference of cycles that you can see in the future. It has just been reviewed. With that, Klabin is stretching this time for us, ensuring greater governance in the company. In terms of the future, we continue with a deleveraging view in the horizon of 18-24 months.
When we reach that at a safe level in complying with our policy, we obviously will bring investments for the board of directors. Reminding you that Klabin is competitive with all the products that it manufactures, but definitely maybe the greatest reference that we might bring, and that is aligned right now. It is not just timely because we have been talking about that for some time. We firmly believe in long fiber, in acquiring assets of long fiber. Klabin ratifies what we have been talking about for a long time now. We are a different company from any other company in Latin America due to the capacity of manufacturing products of high complex portfolio, especially with the long fiber.
Fluff together with LPB is maybe the other main references due to the fact that you can have long fiber and more specifically fluff is our vision of a future investment cycle in Klabin. At the moment, obviously, calls greater attention for this product. Klabin is a company with great competitiveness in cash cost, maybe considering fluff the more competitive one with high value-added products and ratified with the main brands worldwide with a premium on short fiber that is a record and has stabilized at a higher level. Therefore, yes, we believe in the premium of long fiber over short fiber. We believe in the development of pines, especially in the region where we operate. Very little chance right now, I could say almost none of developing pine outside our region. We have acquired a great area, a volume of area for pine.
This reinforces the interest in investing in it in the future. Therefore, view from 18-24 months to deleverage, always complying with our indebtedness policy and looking at our strategic view. Yes, we are ready. When time comes, we will bring proposals to the board of directors for investment in fluff and long fiber, fluff exclusively in the south of Brazil. Excellent.
Thank you, Cristiano, Nico. Very clear.
Next question. Caio Greiner from UBS. Please, you may go ahead.
Hello, good morning. Thank you. I have two questions. First, about the timber sales that you made. We realized, we noticed that it went up this quarter. If you could talk a little bit more about the strategy. We understand that this is related to the acquisition of the excess assets of Caete.
If you could talk a little bit more about what we can expect in coming quarters, if it is a reasonable level that will be maintained. You can talk about the margin burn that you are having in these sales as well. That would be very helpful. Second question about coated boards. We can bring Swedish to the discussion. I know Cristiano talked about at the beginning of the call about weak demand. The release specifically also addressed the entry of imports of coated boards from China. I would like if you could talk a little bit more about this. What product lines are you seeing coming in? At what price range?
If we understand the global dynamics and we're seeing a little bit more exports and probably will see more exports from China, but we also always heard that the Chinese products would not necessarily compete with Klabin's products. I don't know if this perception was mistaken. I'd like to hear a little bit more from you. Overall, whether you see this as a concern. When we start to hear about imports increasing coming from China, since we also see other industries, it kind of starts to shine a red light. I'd like to understand or hear from you about this.
Thank you, Caio. We'll start with Marcos Ivo and followed by Soarez.
Caio, timber sales were always a part of Klabin's operations.
Naturally, this volume goes up or down depending on the availability of timber that we have with that assortment, that piece of timber, that part of timber that Klabin does not use and sell to third parties. On your next question, you already included an important element of the answer. The forestry expansion process that Klabin had in Paraná and also Santa Catarina in Paraná, the highlight is the Arauto asset acquisition, naturally increased our self-sufficiency. As a result, that increases the volume of timber that Klabin has at hand to sell to third parties. It is inherent. This timber sale is not linear because it depends on the forest that you are cutting, the farm that you are cutting may have more or less timber, the diameter to be sold to third parties. We can have a good visibility of that for the year, naturally, because we have the forestry plan.
There's always considering six to nine months ahead. Looking at the year 2025, on average, we should see the same volume of sales/revenue with timber sold to third parties throughout the quarters of this year as we had in the first quarter of 2025. In terms of margin, we do not disclose the margin of this product, but clearly its EBITDA margin is higher than Klabin's average because of the nature of the product. Now I'll turn to Soarez.
Good morning, Caio. Thank you for your question. Talking about demand, the first quarter in seasonal terms tends to be weaker in coated boards. This year we saw this process a little bit more clearly because in the fourth quarter, we imagined that there was some advance of purchases because we have a price recomposition of different contracts in January.
It is natural that the clients in January and this in November and December pull some orders ahead to try and minimize the price increase in the beginning of the year. It is a factor that contributed to this performance of coated boards in the first quarter, which is seasonally weaker. The effect of beers that, as Cristiano mentioned, was not as strong as expected. Basically that was the demand effect. Your question about China, again, we did see in January a high peak of import of Chinese coated boards. The average was 7,000-8,000 tons per month. In January, it got to as much as 16,000 tons. That, I would say, was where the market was already at, a low seasonality. If you add these imports, that is the reflection that we see in a weaker quarter than expected.
In February, we started to see the Chinese imports going down. It went back to a level of 9,000 tons. I do not have the numbers for March yet, but we do not imagine there is even a market for the volumes higher than 7,000-8,000. Those 16,000 tons may be explained by maybe an advance of a tariff that would be implemented in the United States process with China. Obviously, the Chinese producers were probably getting ahead of that, increasing their supply around the world. We expect this on the second quarter. We already see in April and May a scenario closer to what we used to see. That is a bit of the feeling for this moment.
Soarez, if I may, a follow-up. These coated boards coming in, do they compete directly with Klabin's product?
Are they coming in at a price level that is significantly below what you practice, or is that relatively you remain competitive at the current price levels?
At a smaller range of the market, yes, but in most of the market, if I have long fiber, the product that Cristiano mentioned, milk, beer, frozen products, laundry detergent, which is a series of products that without long fiber, it will be very hard to get the performance. On those segments where the end user may have a quicker replacement, that is where those boards come in, usually via distributor. Those small and medium clients are accepting those products, obviously with difficulties in import and having building credit and the payments. There is also the distribution channel that also has their own margin. The entry price is around $750.
Obviously, when you get to the end price, the difference is not that big compared to the prices that are seen in the market today. Another important piece of information, Caio, that we did not mention in the previous questions, is that PM28 is today close to 50% in coated boards. The machine's mix today is already close to 50%. We have added products to the machine that are not coated boards, but have similar or higher margins than coated boards in a more competitive market if we were to seek a sale for the sake of the sale. That is a little bit of the message that we have about Paper Machine 28's mix as well. Great.
Thank you, Soarez and Ivo.
Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, we now conclude the questions and answer session.
I would like to turn the floor to Cristiano Teixeira for his closing remarks.
Thank you all very much. See you next call.
Klabin SA conference call is concluded. We thank you all for attending. Have a great day. Thank you.