Klabin S.A. (BVMF:KLBN11)
Brazil flag Brazil · Delayed Price · Currency is BRL
17.09
-0.10 (-0.58%)
May 11, 2026, 11:36 AM GMT-3
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Earnings Call: Q1 2026

May 7, 2026

Operator

Good morning, and welcome to Klabin's conference call. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. Later, we will have 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 is being recorded and the presentation will be in Portuguese with simultaneous translation into English. All participants will be able to choose the language they wish to hear by clicking on the interpretation button and the language of the presentation by clicking on the presentation screen located above. I will make a brief announcement for those participants following us in English.

Conference being conducted 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 English presentation screen.

Any statements made during this conference call about Klabin's business outlooks, projections, operating and financial targets, and potential growth should be understood as mere forecasts based on the company's management expectations about 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 therefore are subject to change. We have with us today Mr. Cristiano Teixeira, CEO, Gabriela Woge, CFO and Investor Relations Officer, and the other officers in the company. Mr. Cristiano and Ms. Gabriela will comment on the company's performance during the first quarter of 2026, and after that, the directors will be available to answer any questions that you may wish to ask. Now I will hand the call over to Mr. Cristiano. Mr. Cristiano, please go ahead.

Cristiano Teixeira
CEO, Klabin

Thank you. Welcome to our conference call for the first quarter of 2026. We had an important event this quarter which led to an 80% utilization of our recovery boiler in Monte Alegre. This is the most important one in the fiber site. Our expected utilization was 76%. Even though we did this without a complete stop, all of the connections were made to this boiler. We were very motivated by this. We expected to start up before it was planned. This was a very important event. Obviously, you can see this in our CapEx. As a reminder, this is the last year of the transformational CapEx that we've been using in the company, the major investment cycle that we had in the last nine years.

This is the last piece of equipment under that plan. Fortunately, we are above the planned figures. Looking at the performance, pulp, especially fluff, had 30% higher sales in Asia Pacific, APAC, and also Brazil. We had an increase in fluff on these markets. That was quite significant for us. Later on, I'll talk about our expectations. It's a great moment for fluff prices as well. When it comes to paper, a major highlight, I don't know if you remember this, but if you have to refer back to our last call, when I talked about the fact that beer had been performing very well in this market.

This was mentioned in the previous call, and we were referring about the beginning of the year that the carrier board, it's a specific product for beer, had been performing very well. From the end of the COVID pandemic, we always saw this product as having a high increase in consumption, then it dropped again, and now we are back to pre-COVID levels. We basically doubled our sales in the first quarter versus the first quarter of 2025 for this specific product. Another highlight was kraftliner, which increased nearly 8-fold in our exports to Asia. This product increased as the Americans reduced their production and exports. Klabin did very well in this market. Specifically in China, but also other markets in Asia. Corrugated boxes continues to be a highlight, without a doubt.

It has been high in the last few years. It was not any different during the first quarter. We gained 0.5% in market share despite all of the hardships. We've been focusing on this in Brazil. To try to preserve our corrugated boxes portfolio with long contracts which shows the resilience of our results during the quarter. As a reminder, we're keeping a close eye on the 15 most important paper and pulp companies in the world, you've been seeing these results. On average, there was a 20% reduction in EBITDA in these companies that we've been seeing on a quarterly basis, 2025 versus 2026. This was a difficult period for the industry. It's not different for us. We are seeing prices recovering across basically all markets.

Of course, we have to pass on the prices of energy and the logistics costs that we all received in the first quarter. We expect a wave to come. Of course, some companies will be more efficient than others, and Klabin will definitely attempt to pass on these costs in the second quarter. This has already started. We've seen a few announcements, and our commitment to our shareholders remains steadfast in this direction. Thank you. We'll continue with Gabriela, and then I'll be back for the Q&A.

Gabriela Woge
CFO and Investor Relations Officer, Klabin

Hello, everyone. Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining our conference call. On page four, I present the quarter's results which reflect the operational stability of our plants and the continued ramp up of the paper machines.

Quarterly sales volumes reached 1.16 million tons, up 12% from the first quarter of 2025, with growth across all businesses. Net revenue for the quarter reached BRL 4.9 billion, a 2% increase year-over-year, driven primarily by higher volumes combined with higher corrugated paper prices, which more than offset the effect of the real's appreciation against the U.S. dollar. In this context, EBITDA for the quarter was BRL 1.7 billion with a margin of 34%, reflecting the impact of exchange rates during the period and the Monte Alegre general maintenance shutdown on the company's costs. Continuing on page five, total cash cost per ton in the first quarter of 2026, including the effects of the general shutdown, was BRL 3,342, flat compared to the same period last year.

This performance reflects the year-over-year reduction in variable costs and G&A expenses, offset by higher fiber costs, as well as the impact of the previously mentioned scheduled maintenance shutdown during the quarter. Moving on to slide six. Klabin ended the 1st quarter of 2026 with a net debt of BRL 24 billion and leverage measured by the net debt to adjusted EBITDA ratio in US dollars of 3.3x , a reduction of 0.6x compared to the first quarter of 2025 and flat compared to the previous quarter. The company remains focused on its disciplined path of deleveraging, confirming the consistent execution of its strategy and strengthening of its capital structure. Moving on to the next page. The company's liquidity remains robust, ending December at BRL 11.5 billion.

This liquidity consists of BRL 8.9 billion in cash and the remainder in undrawn revolving credit lines. The average maturity of debt at the end of the quarter was 85 months, and the average cost in US dollars was 5.1% per year, a reduction of 0.6 percentage points compared to March 2025, reflecting the debt management initiatives implemented over the past few months. Moving on to page eight. Here we have the company's free cash flow. Over the past 12 months, the company generated an adjusted free cash flow of BRL 1.1 billion. While in the first quarter, it was a negative by BRL 1.2 billion due to the investments related to the modernization of the Monte Alegre boiler and the timing of payments in the first quarter of 2026. Moving on to slide nine.

Payouts to shareholders over the last 12 months totaled BRL 1.181 billion. This amount represents a dividend yield of 5.2%. I would also like to highlight the advanced dividend declaration approved last year in light of the transition rules provided for in the legislation in the amount of BRL 278 million scheduled for May. Finally, I'd like to emphasize that Klabin continues to act with discipline in executing its business strategy, ensuring consistency in its results across cycles. Now I'll hand it back over to Cristiano.

Cristiano Teixeira
CEO, Klabin

Great. Going over this quickly so we can continue with our Q&A. I'd like to highlight our market thermometer. The last column shows our expected price recovery in the next quarter. A highlight here are short fibers. We're starting to see average prices above what we had in the first quarter. We're very confident, and we're confident about fluff as well. We expect prices to recover, and we are already seeing this happening. The same is starting in kraftliner. We've also been seeing some announcements far above containerboard. These are the main highlights of our market thermometer for the second quarter. Let's continue with the Q&A.

Operator

Ladies and gentlemen, we will now begin the Q&A. If you'd like to ask a question, please click on the Raise Hand button. If you'd like to remove your question from the queue, you can lower your hand. The first question will be asked by Rafael Barcellos from Bradesco BBI. Go ahead, sir.

Rafael Barcellos
Senior Equity Research Analyst, Bradesco BBI

Good morning. Thank you for taking my questions. My first question is about coated board. We saw that sales to the domestic market were good. When we look at the average prices, they weren't very strong. If you can tell us a little bit about that. When we look at these thermometers, we see that volumes are increasing. I understand that there should be an impact from the downtime in Monte Alegre, so it will be positively impacted in the future. If you can tell us a little bit more about how the company is operating in this mix of coated board and kraftliner. Do you have any updates about the volume of coated board that the company will potentially deliver this year? What are the general conditions like in this market since it's a little bit more challenging? I'd just like to get some color on that.

When it comes to costs, this is a common point to discuss with investors. Recently, we saw all of these impacts from the conflict in the Middle East. I don't think this will be an exception. If you can tell us a little bit more about what you expect for the cost to be impacted. I know that there are certain products, papers, where you have price contracts. I don't know what the company's capacity is to pass this on, but maybe we can talk a bit about that. Thank you.

Cristiano Teixeira
CEO, Klabin

Thank you, Rafael. Let's start with Soares, and Gabi will talk about costs.

José Soares
Paper Commercial Director, Klabin

Good morning, Rafael. Thank you for your question. Considering concerning coated board prices. Due to the exchange pressure, it will remain flat.

In the domestic market, the price remained flat. In the international market, most of this has been contracted, we can't do anything in US dollars. I mean, we might readjust some contracts in the second half of the year, but most of them are signed for the year. That's why prices are flat. Looking at the domestic market, we announced a price readjustment for the second half of the year. It's a slow process. Obviously, we're going to work in order to get closer to what we announced. You know, we're starting this battle. We know that it's not simple. It's a process that's negotiated on a case-by-case basis, but the market has been recovering. The last price recovery that we had was in May 2024. We have an accumulated IPCA that should be negotiated with our customers now.

Cristiano Teixeira
CEO, Klabin

Thank you, Soares. Gabi?

Gabriela Woge
CFO and Investor Relations Officer, Klabin

To answer your questions on costs. Of course, there is an impact. What we're assessing for Klabin is the impact of diesel, especially to the domestic market. Forestry, transportation, logistics, logistical costs, and of course, this depends on the price policy that Petrobras will adopt and the impact that this will have for us. When it comes to international transportation, there's also the price of oil because it's being transported in containers. When it comes to costs, right now, we don't see any risks of running out. From the beginning of the year, we've been negotiating with customers to minimize these impacts. Some of this was done before the war, we are sustaining the numbers we have foreseen in our guidance.

There are mitigation alternatives for these costs. The company is aiming to reduce variable costs in G&A, and this has already been reflected in the results we had for the first quarter. Of course, we can always pass this on through the prices, as Cristiano mentioned in the beginning.

Cristiano Teixeira
CEO, Klabin

The good news is that 40% of the tariff is diesel. We know that Petrobras' policy is not to pass this on immediately, and we'll have to see what Petrobras' diesel policy will be. It's an election year, this might not be fully passed on. This is just a side note, of course, we're paying attention to that. I'll refer to Figueira coming in. We started in mid 2024.

We operated the company in all of 2025, and we increased our clients' portfolio and also increased the volume of corrugated paper with clients that already did business with us. We gained in market share, not only in Figueira, but we also had a capacity increase in Ceará, in the Horizonte unit. This also happened in a very difficult environment. Klabin is gaining market share. We've been able to improve our service level for the main exporters in Brazil. They're very close to Klabin, the food industry as a whole, especially protein. Yes, we are passing this on, and we are confident that our service level is being valued by our customers. Thank you.

Rafael Barcellos
Senior Equity Research Analyst, Bradesco BBI

Thank you, Cristiano. Just as a follow-up question. My understanding here is that even with these cost pressures, you still believe that the cost can be close to the guidance you proposed in the beginning of the year. A follow-up in coated board. Do you have any idea of, you know, what we can think about in this area for the rest of the year?

Cristiano Teixeira
CEO, Klabin

Yes, we remain confident in our guidance. I'll let Soares talk about this. I just want to make a brief introduction about coated board. We have the Machine 28. As you know, it can produce a kraftliner volume, but it's been important for us. We're still assessing the market. Soares will talk about this.

José Soares
Paper Commercial Director, Klabin

Just as a new thing that we haven't mentioned in a long time, I know that your question was about coated board, but as you know, kraftliner is very close to it. We're starting to see in our the exercise we do recurrently in our commercial plan. We're starting to see kraftliner prices reaching internal transfer prices. We've been working for years on the assumption that it is more attractive domestically than the marginal sales of kraftliner. We're starting to transfer these prices. This is great news because now Klabin is going back to the market to buy paper. This hasn't happened in at least two years. This is a structural factor that is recovering the market.

When it comes to paperboard, we've been seeing a slight improvement, especially in the U.S., which has remained flat in paperboard. In Europe, we're seeing small signs, still very small. In the rest of the world, especially Brazil, we're seeing a slightly better scenario. Of course, in the second half of the year, this is when volumes grow a lot in Brazil. This year, since we're helped by the weather and the beer market, the first quarter has been stronger than usual. We're also expecting an improvement in the demands in the domestic market. We're ramping up in the international market with LPB paperboard. We have several product clients that approved these products last year.

This year, for the international market, except for traditional customers, new customers are starting to ramp up their volumes, much more than before. The Machine 28 is gaining share as these new clients join this portfolio and as volumes grow. Thank you.

Cristiano Teixeira
CEO, Klabin

[Non-English content]

Great. Thank you.

Operator

[Non-English content]

The next question will be asked by Marcio Farid from Goldman Sachs. Go ahead.

Marcio Farid
Vice President, Goldman Sachs

[Non-English content]

Thank you. I apologize for the background noise. A couple of points. First, when it comes to leverage, obviously there are some market conditions that get in the way of your cash generation this year. Costs, foreign exchange. You gave us some information about that. In any case, when we run the numbers here, considering dividend payments, there doesn't seem to be much left for the EBITDA. Do you expect any changes to the dividend policy, leverage, and what has been the potential for new asset sales? The lease backs they had in the past. Do you still have capacity for that? Also, when it comes to pulp, how have you seen the market?

[Non-English content]

If you can talk about the next quarter. Of course, there's some carryover, but the last few price announcements, at least for short fibers in China, were more challenging. I'll let you answer, Cristiano, if you could tell us a little bit more about this market.

Cristiano Teixeira
CEO, Klabin

[Non-English content]

Thank you, Farid.

[Non-English content]

To talk about leverage, Gabi is here, and she'll add to my answer if they have anything to add.

[Non-English content]

When it comes to leverage, we need to see the context behind this. If we can give a retrospective analysis. The company has gone through a relevant investment cycle. The company modernized basically all of its plants, especially the ones that have recovery boilers, digesters and so on. We renewed our plants. The Monte Alegre boiler, if you know the site. In the last three years, we've removed a lot from the site. The site is lean, light, and we are starting off a boiler this year with a much better performance. That will add 40 years to that site. We're modernizing our plants, and this is now one of the most modern in the world. We have, when we look at product mix, kraft paperboard. We have the only fluff machine designed for this product.

We're very happy. We've been getting price benefits.

[Non-English content]

The company has reached all of its volumes, especially Machine 28.

[Non-English content]

We expect many good things for the next years.

Nós estamos na última tranche da-.

This is the last part of that investment cycle. We're making transformational investments, I'm referring to the recovery boiler. The company's CapEx perspective. As I always say, we don't have any transformational studies in the company, no CapEx or any kind of discussion about M&A.

[Non-English content]

The company is prepared to generate a lot of free cash flow starting in January 2027. We're still finishing the year with a significant expense that will consume part of this cash generation. Of course, there's a leverage effect. We do have a poor price cycle in several of the company's products, as you know, but we're seeing a recovery cycle. Of course, this level will depend on the market, but we do believe it will recover. We expect the company's productivity to go up. Significant equipment adjustments, and this will generate free cash flow and deleveraging next year. We don't expect our policy to change because it's working very well. Debt maturity has been safe.

There's no risk of changing our dividends policy, and we're very confident about deleveraging the company. I think that it's important for you to look at the company's model and you'll start to understand what the risk rating agency understood as well.

Alexandre Nicolini
COO, Pulp Business Unit, Klabin

Marcio, thank you for your question. To talk about the short fibers market, from our perspective, it remains constructive for the short term. Support for prices is coming from a more disciplined offer. We have restricted production, but this was a one-off, and we have some factors that will also stay our price policy for the next quarters. I mentioned in the fourth quarter that we are also expecting an increase in transit time for ships since maritime companies have reduced the speed due to fuel consumption and CO2 emissions.

Some of these ships are older, so that reduces the offer in the short term. Obviously, China continues to be an attention point. As you know, our exposure to China is small. From our perspective, in the first quarter, we had a high level of sales to China, but given the opportunities due to prices or logistics costs, we've been keeping a close eye on China, understanding that our main clients, our mature markets are in Europe and the U.S., and of course, we have a relevant position in Brazil. In long fibers, this scenario is challenging, but this is basically inexistent. It exists in Brazil in niche markets. Inventories remain high.

Price levels have a gap in short fibers, especially in China, but in Europe we see a more relevant gap, which is why prices in Europe and in the U.S. have gone up more consistently. In general, we're seeing a more balanced market for short fibers without a super cycle scenario, but a healthier scenario that's more sustainable for the industry. About fluff specifically, we started seeing this market recovering earlier this year. Price increases have been taking place without any kind of resistance. Demand remains solid. Obviously, there are impacts about the supply. We had the Coosa Pines plant closing in the U.S., and that created a significant impact for the industry. We're seeing this being reflected in the second half of the year.

There was also maintenance downtime in two major fluff lines in the U.S., which reduced the supply and made the market, as Cristiano said, have higher prices in the second half of the year.

Operator

Thank you, Cristiano. The next question will be asked by Daniel Sasson from Itaú BBA. Go ahead.

Daniel Sasson
Head of Latam Steel and Mining, Pulp and Paper, Itaú BBA

Hi, everyone. Thank you for taking my questions. The first question is for Nico. Your pulp prices this quarter was a positive highlight, so congratulations to you and the team. You mentioned in your release that Klabin used its geographic flexibility to add volume to markets in better commercial conditions. Can you tell us a little bit more about that? I think Gabi mentioned this in her opening statement, the logistical advantages that make Klabin able to access these niche markets more efficiently.

You mentioned this in the previous quarter, that you did some very good transportation contracts with containers. Maybe that was a more structural market. What was a one-off opportunity? I think that would be an important part to understand. We don't usually go into details when it comes to logistics. Gabi, if you could tell us about the Monte Alegre boiler. You mentioned that you might advance this startup versus the target, which was the fourth quarter. Since we're getting closer to commissioning it, what are the concrete gains in energy efficiency and emissions reduction, the operational capacity? Is there a potential to debottleneck paperboard in Monte Alegre? What will be the impact of this new boiler to your cash cost in 2027 versus the current cost?

That would be important to understand, because like Chris said, it seems like you are at an important inflection point to generate cash. Maybe CapEx will be lower and EBITDA will be higher. If you can tell me a little bit about the gains that you expect from this new boiler, that would be great.

Cristiano Teixeira
CEO, Klabin

Thank you. I'll hand it over to Nico, but to talk about the boiler, of course, it will significantly increase our yield in Monte Alegre. When things are mature, if we can confirm that it will be concluded early, when we have new forecasts, we will share it with you.

It's important to say that EBITDA gains, specifically due to the boiler, if you look at the entire company, it will be marginal because it will improve the production in that unit, and it won't provide for any larger capacity gains. That's not where the deleveraging is coming from. It's coming obviously from the end of the CapEx cycle. So the company can generate BRL 1.5 billion-BRL 2.5 billion in CapEx at a regular pace, depending on the EBITDA. This will happen next year for that specific reason. This will improve, of course, CO2 emissions in that unit. Very soon, we'll invite you to see it in Monte Alegre. You'll see exactly where it was built. We have a new administrative area there, and the site is renewed.

As soon as we have these figures, we'll provide them, but these gains are marginal. EBITDA gains are still to come, of course. The main point is the ramp up in Machine 28. This deleverage will come especially from the end of a CapEx cycle.

Alexandre Nicolini
COO, Pulp Business Unit, Klabin

Hi, thank you for your question and your comments. It's a combination of factors, structural and market opportunities. As you know, we have two pulp lines at the same site, short and long fibers. That gives us significant flexibility to redirect our mix according to the demand and attractiveness in each market. We had a differentiated logistics structure. We're the biggest exporter of containers in Brazil. This expands our access to more niche markets and with higher added value customers, especially the ones that have lower volumes.

We have a very diversified base of sales, so that allows us to access more niche markets, deliver more frequently, and we're more confident in our logistics. This added to commercial discipline, managing our revenue well. This combination of factors is what allows us to prioritize some markets that have better margin returns. We've been seeing this especially in fluff. It's a combination of factors that is providing these results that you saw.

Daniel Sasson
Head of Latam Steel and Mining, Pulp and Paper, Itaú BBA

Great. Thank you.

Operator

The next question will be asked by Guilherme Rosito from Bank of America. Go ahead.

Guilherme Rosito
Equity Research Associate, Bank of America

Hi, good morning, everyone. Thank you for taking my question. My first question is about kraftliner. I know that you've talked about this. To understand that dashboard, were you expecting to increase kraftliner and increase paperboard from MP28?

You mentioned that you don't have any CapEx expenses for the long term. The Santa Catarina project has been discussed for a long time. Recently we got news of a project in Argentina that has a very similar design and capacity that we expected in Santa Catarina. Does this change anything for the future and how you will design this in products and capacity? Thank you.

Cristiano Teixeira
CEO, Klabin

Thank you. I'll answer about CapEx, and then Soares will answer about kraftliner. Building the new site, about the fluff project in Santa Catarina, it's absolutely on hold. We're not discussing this project at all. As you know, paper and pulp needs studies in the pipeline, but we are not expecting to discuss this for the year. It won't be taken to the board this year.

We're very confident, and this has been discussed with the board. We're continuing to deleverage the company, and we're not expecting to invest. We won't propose anything to the board this year. We're very confident with that. Soares, go ahead and answer the kraftliner question.

José Soares
Paper Commercial Director, Klabin

Guilherme, thank you for your question. Looking at the kraftliner indicators, you saw a reduction in volume. For the quarter, we had an increase of our internal transfer. Our box market is has a higher demand for paper, so we are reducing exports. We have a very robust portfolio. We are basically at 50 days orders, and we need to bring this to a more comfortable level. The market is tight. We have a big demand across all geographies except the Middle East for obvious reasons.

Cristiano Teixeira
CEO, Klabin

We're reducing volumes to improve our service level and also to supply our corrugated paper business. This structure will be higher in the boxes market. Just to connect between these things, I mentioned that the marginal sales, the lower kraft products that are being exported. When these prices start reaching the transfer prices, that's when we expect to go to the market to buy paper so that we can use our recycled corrugated paper and then continue exporting at the levels we have been having. The trends we're seeing are that. This depends on the performance of the boxes market and the marginal kraftliner sales. We expect this to happen. With the contracts we have in corrugated paper, they make us need to meet these volumes.

When Soares says that the market is tight, he's saying that we don't have enough paper in the chain. If we don't solve this, of course, we're going to prioritize contracts with major Brazilian exporters. Just adding to that, the other factor is that the Machine 28 is gaining space. We have less kraft available in Machine 28, that adds to everything we mentioned. Strong demand, we're having more kraft, fewer internal transfers. That's good news as the marginal prices for kraft is improving. This is all good information.

Guilherme Rosito
Equity Research Associate, Bank of America

That was very clear. Thank you.

Operator

The next question will be asked by Guilherme Nippes from XP. Go ahead.

Guilherme Nippes
Equity Research Associate, XP

Hi, everyone. I have a couple of questions. The first one is about costs, especially fiber costs.

You mentioned in your release that costs went up, especially due to the weather events that happened over last year. Obviously, there was an impact from global logistics issues. If you can tell us how much of these impacts were due to operational issues and when we should expect these costs to normalize. Still on that point, how much of it was due to the war and higher diesel prices? My second question is about packaging. You mentioned that your expectation was a significant increase in sales volumes. We saw that the results in this quarter were more resilient. That suggests a slightly higher drop. You were able to offset it with share gains this quarter. My question is, how do you see the demand for the future?

On the price side, is the containerboard price, plus prices for shavings? Could that pressure paperboard-- Excuse me, corrugated paper prices.

Cristiano Teixeira
CEO, Klabin

Great. Let's start with Gabriela, then Douglas will answer.

Gabriela Woge
CFO and Investor Relations Officer, Klabin

Thank you for your question, Guilherme. Fiber prices, we've been seeing that we faced last year, especially some weather issues in forestry, which elevated fiber costs on a comparative basis. If we compare to the previous quarters. This stabilized at a higher level. In forestry, all cycles are very long. Weather events at the end of the day have been surpassed, but we still expect some consequences of that. That's why costs remain high on a yearly comparison. The impact of the war. We recently mentioned, especially for forestry. Given the logistics cost, diesel in Brazil has a significant impact.

We had an impact that was still limited in the second quarter, and this will depend on what happens from now on. It's hard to quantify this, but we expect a higher impact in the second quarter than we saw in the first. In any case, we're seeing some of the costs being offset to sustain the cash cost guidance. We will try to offset this through reducing other costs or through passing costs on, as we mentioned before.

Speaker 11

Adding to that, we are going to go into details about this at Klabin Day. This is usually in October or November. We're going to have a lot of information on future productivity at Klabin. We're very optimistic about this and other regions in the world, opportunities, threats. We're going to talk about forestry and weather events.

Specifically last year, we had a problem related to wood moisture. Our units need to be stored for some time. There was a disbalance there due to this complex logistic operation. We're paying attention to this, but we are expecting rain. This will also make Klabin have to get ready as our inventories go up around the plant to ensure that the company remains operational. On average, this can have an impact to our cost. It's still not material in our assessment, but we are keeping an eye on that. The most important thing is that we're very confident, the average radius in our region after the Arauco acquisition is in the most productive area of the world of both fibers, eucalyptus and pinus.

At a moment in which the entire world is having a lower pinus capacity, as you know. Our productivity will go up safely in the next years with a very low structural radius. Circumstantial occasions having more or less rainfall will have an impact. The structural effect will basically be null.

Cristiano Teixeira
CEO, Klabin

Guilherme, thank you for your question. We're coming off of some very good years in corrugated paper, especially after the COVID pandemic. We've had structural changes. Corrugated paper is the sixth largest market in the world, and Brazil has 1/5 of that market. This performance is doing well, especially after the COVID pandemic. We don't see anything changing that. In the first quarter, the market behaved very well, close to 12.5%. For Klabin, this was even better. Klabin has some advantages in this performance.

We've mentioned a few of them. When you look at protein and fruit, these are markets that are growing above the market average when it comes to exports, and Klabin has virgin fibers that also stand out. With high market participation and with this performance, we have above market level growth. We also saw in some areas like food and drinks, the performance has been strong due to macroeconomic factors, and we're growing above the market levels there as well. We saw major brands and brand owners growing more than last year, and Klabin has a high share of them, and that boosts our volume. We also grew in new customers with Figueira and Horizonte, with new capacities, with better service levels. Our customer base has grown. The market did well, and we are above the market average.

That was where the performance came from. For the future, we expect our performance to do well. Our estimation is that the market will grow two or more. That's our estimate, and our performance was slightly higher than that because of the factors I mentioned before. When it comes to price, we expect prices to continue aligned with inflation. We have factors like contracts, strategies that make Klabin do well because of the mix and because of the better margins that we have. The price increases are more aligned with inflation.

Operator

Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, since there are no further questions, we will hand it back over to Mr. Cristiano Teixeira for his closing remarks.

Cristiano Teixeira
CEO, Klabin

Thank you, everyone. See you on the next call.

Operator

This concludes Klabin S.A.'s conference call. Thank you and have a good day.

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