Follow one bale: from a Brazilian tree to a tissue roll in China

Written by Shrinivas G
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In 2024, a single ship carried 72,000 tons of Suzano pulp from Santos to China. It left on March 4 and arrived on April 9. This post follows one bale of that pulp from a eucalyptus seedling to a tissue roll, and shows who has paid for it at each step.

Published October 27, 2026 · Facts as of October 27, 2026 · 10 min read · Sources listed at the end

Facts as of October 27, 2026. This page states the facts as they stood on that date. Figures, rules and company plans may have changed since publication. We review this guide every six months and update the pages.

About 7 yearsSuzano's forestry cycle for eucalyptus in Brazil, from planting to harvest 1
47.7%Share of Brazil's 22.3 million tons of pulp exports that went to China in 2025, as reported by Brazil 25
72,000 tonsCargo of the Green Santos on its 2024 voyage from Santos to China 13
2.7 million tonsPulp held at Chinese ports at the end of June 2026, Suzano reports 15

The 60-second version

What is it?

A bale of pulp is a pressed block of dry pulp sheets of about 250 kg. Eight bales are wired into a unit of about 2 tons 7. This post follows one bale through eight steps: plant, harvest, cook, bleach and dry, bale, rail to the port, sea, and China.

Why does it matter?

Brazil to China is the largest pulp route in our data 25. Each step takes time, and someone has paid for the pulp at each step before it is sold or used.

How does it work?

The tree grows for about seven years 1. The mill makes the bale in days. The train and the ship take weeks. Then the pulp may wait at a port until a mill needs it 15.

Myth or fact?

"A bale of pulp goes straight from the mill to the buyer's paper machine."

See the answer

Mostly myth. The documented 2024 voyage of the Green Santos took from March 4 to April 9 13. At the end of June 2026, Chinese ports held about 2.7 million tons of pulp in stock 15.

01What is the journey of one bale?

Brazil to China is the largest pulp route in our data. In 2025, Brazil sent 10.6 million tons of pulp to China, as reported by Brazil. That was 47.7% of the 22.3 million tons Brazil exported that year 25. This post follows one bale on that route.

The journey has eight steps: plant, harvest, cook, bleach and dry, bale, rail to the port, sea, and China. The figure above groups them into five stages. The sections below take the stages in order, and the table lists all eight steps.

  1. Steps 1 and 2: Grow and harvestA eucalyptus seedling grows for about 7 years in Brazil. The trees are then cut, washed and chipped 1,4.
  2. Steps 3 and 4: Cook, bleach and dryThe chips are cooked in white liquor, bleached and dried into sheets 4,5.
  3. Step 5: BaleThe sheets become 250 kg bales. Eight bales make a unit of 2 tons 7.
  4. Steps 6 and 7: Rail and seaA train takes the units to Santos. A ship carries them to China. In 2024, one voyage ran from March 4 to April 9 10,13.
  5. Step 8: ChinaThe pulp waits at a port until a mill needs it. At a tissue mill, it can become tissue 15,21.

02How does a tree become a bale?

Plant. Suzano says its forestry cycle in Brazil lasts about seven years 1. Ibá, the Brazilian tree industry association, gives an average eucalyptus cycle of 6.7 years, with data for 2022 2. The Finnish Forest Association gives 60 to 80 years as the normal rotation in southern Finland 3. The tree race looks at this gap.

Harvest. At the mill, logs are washed and chipped 4. Suzano's Ribas do Rio Pardo mill started in 2024 with a capacity of 2.55 million tons of bleached eucalyptus pulp a year 9.

Cook. The chips are cooked in white liquor, a water solution of sodium sulfide and sodium hydroxide 5. The used liquor, called black liquor, is fired in a recovery furnace, and the cooking chemicals are made again 5. How a kraft mill works explains this loop.

Bleach and dry. Oxygen removes up to 65 to 70% of the lignin left after cooking, Valmet says 6. Bleaching then uses mainly chlorine dioxide, UPM Uruguay says 4. The pulp is then dried into sheets 4.

Bale. The sheets are pressed into bales. Metsä Fibre's Kemi mill and Mercer's Stendal mill both ship 250 kg bales, with 8 bales in a 2-ton unit 7.

All eight steps

One bale in eight steps

Sources as numbered in the text. The week count is ours: March 4 to April 9, 2024.
StepWhat happensKey fact
1. PlantA eucalyptus seedling is planted in Brazil.About 7 years from planting to harvest 1.
2. HarvestThe trees are cut. At the mill, logs are washed and chipped.Logs are washed and then chipped 4.
3. CookChips are cooked in white liquor. Black liquor is fired in the recovery furnace.The cooking chemicals are recovered and used again 5.
4. Bleach and dryOxygen and chlorine dioxide whiten the pulp. It is dried into sheets.Oxygen removes up to 65 to 70% of the lignin left after cooking 6.
5. BaleSheets are pressed into bales and wired into units.8 bales of 250 kg make a 2-ton unit 7.
6. To the portA train takes the units to Santos.More than 5.8 million tons went through Suzano's Santos terminals in 2025 11.
7. At seaA ship carries the units across the ocean.The Green Santos carried 72,000 tons from March 4 to April 9, 2024 13.
8. In ChinaThe pulp waits at a port, then a mill can make tissue.About 2.7 million tons sat at Chinese ports at the end of June 2026 15.

03How does a bale get from the mill to the ship?

Suzano sends pulp from Ribas do Rio Pardo by rail on the Malha Norte line to its terminals at the Port of Santos 10. In 2023, Suzano announced a new terminal at Inocência, in Mato Grosso do Sul, for the mill. At Santos, gantry cranes can unload up to 44 wagons at the same time 10. In 2025, Suzano moved more than 5.8 million tons of pulp through its Santos terminals 11. Terminal guidelines for baled pulp in units say each unit should be stored upright on a dry, clean floor, and that clamps should not grip the unit's wires 8.

Santos is one gateway among several. Portocel, a terminal in Espírito Santo owned 51% by Suzano and 49% by Cenibra, handled 6.24 million tons of pulp in 2023 12. Portocel says it handles 60% of the pulp Brazil exports. That is the terminal's own claim, and it is undated 12.

Pulp leaves Brazil on pulp ships or in containers. In 2022, one container ship carried 150 containers of Bracell pulp, 26 tons each and 3,900 tons in total, from Santos to Ningbo, China 14.

Metsä Fibre and Mercer ship pulp in wired units of eight bales of about 250 kg.

04How does a bale cross the ocean?

In 2024, the Green Santos, then the world's largest specialized pulp ship, carried 72,000 tons of Suzano pulp from Santos to China. It has a deadweight of 77,000 tons and is the first of six similar ships from Cosco Shipping Specialized Carriers 13. It left Santos on March 4 and arrived in China on April 9, 2024 13. That is about five weeks, our count of the days between the two dates.

If every bale weighed 250 kg, that cargo held 288,000 bales in 36,000 units. This is our arithmetic from the bale format 7. The 2022 Bracell container shipment was 3,900 tons, so the Green Santos cargo was about 18 times larger 13,14.

The chart shows the 10 largest routes in 2025. Brazil to China, at 10.6 million tons, was 1.9 times the next route, Indonesia to China at 5.5 million tons, our calculation 25. Brazil's pulp to China grew from 3.8 million tons in 2015 to 10.6 million tons in 2025, 2.8 times, as reported by Brazil. China's share of Brazil's exports rose from 32.1% to 47.7% 25. China records 10.4 million tons from Brazil for 2025, close to Brazil's own figure 25. Why countries' numbers differ explains how we choose between the two. For the full picture, see the pulp trade map and Brazil's pulp exports.

Chart

The 10 largest pulp routes in 2025

Brazil to China10.6Indonesia to China5.53Chile to China3.51Canada to China3.18Brazil to US2.97Canada to US2.07Finland to China1.83Brazil to Italy1.81Uruguay to China1.80Russia to China1.74
Million tons. Source: UN Comtrade. Each route uses the exporter's data when the exporter is one of our 10 reporting countries and its weights pass our checks; otherwise the importer's data. Routes between two countries outside the 10 are not shown.

05Who pays for the bale while it waits?

At the end of June 2026, Chinese ports held about 2.7 million tons of pulp, and the stock was still mostly softwood, Suzano reports 15. Whoever owns pulp at a port has money tied up in it and has not yet used or sold it.

No source we found says who owns the bale on each leg of the trip. That depends on the sales contract, its Incoterms rules and its payment terms. See title and ownership in commodity trade for how ownership passes in commodity deals.

The figure shows the points where cash is tied up, using public information. Working capital stays committed from the first year of growth until the buyer pays. The cash conversion cycle measures that time. Inventory finance funds stock held at ports, and letters of credit link payment to the buyer's bank. Cash in the chain covers these points in more detail.

Where the cash goes

Who has paid for the bale, and who is waiting to be paid

  1. Years 1 to 7
    GrowingSomeone pays for the land, the planting and the care of the trees for about seven years before the first harvest. Suzano's sustainability center gives 5 to 7 years from planting to harvest 1.
  2. Each month
    The priceIn Asia, net prices are set after discounts that buyers and sellers negotiate, usually every month, Fastmarkets says. Its China assessments cover orders placed in the week before publication for delivery in the next three months 17.
  3. About 5 weeks
    At seaSomeone carries the value of the cargo during the voyage. At the end of 2024, Suzano's filing lists R$1.51 billion of "foreign finished pulp" in its inventories 16.
  4. Weeks to months
    At a Chinese portChinese ports held about 2.7 million tons at the end of June 2026 15. The owner has money tied up in this pulp and has not yet used or sold it.
  5. Payment day
    Waiting to be paidFastmarkets' price basis for North American exports to Japan includes a discount of 2% to 8% for cash payment or 60 days 17. At the end of 2024, foreign customers owed Suzano R$7.09 billion 16. Suzano says that when it sells on credit, it assumes its customers' credit risk 18.
  6. At the bank
    Letters of creditIn 2008, slow letters of credit from Chinese buyers left pulp waiting at Vancouver 19. In 2004, Chinese state banks stopped issuing letters of credit in some overheating sectors, and Chinese purchases of one New Zealand producer's pulp almost stopped 20. These are dated examples, reported at the time.
Public information only. Timing shows the order of cash needs, and actual days vary by contract. R$ is the Brazilian real.

06What does the bale become in China?

Tissue is the largest use of market pulp. Suzano estimates that tissue took 30 million tons of the 65 million tons of bleached chemical market pulp used worldwide in 2024 21. That is 46%, our calculation. Suzano lists toilet paper, napkins, paper towels and tissues among the uses of its eucalyptus pulp 22.

Fiber length helps explain the fit. Metsä Fibre says hardwood pulp gives thickness, a smoother surface and high absorbency 23. A peer reviewed study of commercial tissue pulps measured hardwood fibers of 0.70 to 0.84 mm and softwood fibers of 1.57 to 1.96 mm. It found that softness rose with bulk 24.

China also makes pulp of its own, and builds more mills. China's pulp imports tracks that change.

The tree takes years to grow. The trip takes weeks. At every step, someone has paid for the pulp.

What this means for traders

  • The bale is sold and paid for in steps, and each step can take weeks. Check who holds the cash at each one.
  • A shipload is large. The 2024 Green Santos cargo was 72,000 tons, and one price move can change its value before it arrives.
  • Pulp waiting at a port is stock that has not yet been sold or used. Ask who finances that time.

Questions traders ask

How long does a eucalyptus tree take to grow for pulp in Brazil?

About seven years, Suzano says. Ibá, the Brazilian tree industry association, gives an average eucalyptus cycle of 6.7 years, with data for 2022. In southern Finland, the normal forest rotation is 60 to 80 years.

How big is a bale of pulp?

At the Kemi mill in Finland and Mercer's Stendal mill in Germany, a bale weighs about 250 kg, and 8 bales are wired into a unit of 2 tons. Other mills can use other formats.

How long does pulp take to go from Brazil to China by ship?

One documented voyage, the Green Santos in 2024, left Santos on March 4 and arrived in China on April 9. That is 36 days, or about five weeks by our count. Other voyages can take more or less time.

How much pulp can one ship carry?

In 2024, the Green Santos, then the world's largest specialized pulp ship, carried 72,000 tons of Suzano pulp in one cargo. It has a deadweight of 77,000 tons.

Who pays for pulp while it waits at a port?

The owner has money tied up in it and has not yet used or sold it. The sales contract and its payment terms decide who the owner is at each step. At the end of June 2026, Chinese ports held about 2.7 million tons of pulp, Suzano reports.

Moving pulp from mill to port to buyer? Ossiano Capital works on trade finance for pulp and paper trades.

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Sources and notes

  1. Suzano, Behind our innovation, there is BIO, Suzano Biopulp, June 1, 2026; and Suzano sustainability center, Planting (5 to 7 years from planting to harvest). https://biopulp.suzano.com.br/news/behind-our-innovation-there-is-bio
  2. Ibá (Indústria Brasileira de Árvores), Relatório Anual 2023 (data for 2022), 2023, p. 49: average eucalyptus cycle of 6.7 years. https://static.poder360.com.br/2024/05/Relatorio_Anual_2023_Iba.pdf
  3. Finnish Forest Association, forest.fi glossary, Periodic cover silviculture (normal rotation 60 to 80 years in southern Finland), undated. https://forest.fi/glossary/periodic-cover-silviculture-jaksollinen-metsankasvatus/
  4. UPM Uruguay, How the mill works (log washing and chipping, bleaching with chlorine dioxide, drying), undated. https://www.upm.uy/siteassets/documents/howmillworks.pdf
  5. US EPA, AP-42 Chapter 10.2, Chemical Wood Pulping (white liquor, black liquor, recovery furnace), September 1990. https://www.epa.gov/sites/default/files/2020-10/documents/c10s02.pdf
  6. Valmet, Oxygen delignification, product page (vendor claim), copyright 2026. https://valmet.com/pulp/cooking-and-fiberline/oxygen-delignification
  7. Metsä Fibre, Metsä Pine KMI product datasheet, June 2024; and Mercer International, Mercer Stendal ECF Product Datasheet, June 2025 (250 kg bales, 8 bales per 2-ton unit). https://www.metsagroup.com/contentassets/66852bf1a3a44fc5978d72b5d20f2e06/metsa-pine-kmi.pdf
  8. Wallenius Wilhelmsen, Cargo handling instructions, Baled wood pulp in units, undated. https://cargohandlinginstruction.walleniuswilhelmsen.com/terminal/guidelines-for-break-bulk-b-b-acceptance/baled-wood-pulp-in-units
  9. Suzano S.A., Form 6-K, Material Fact, Cerrado Project start-up, July 21, 2024 (2.55 million tons a year). https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/909327/000162828024032385/cerradoprojectstrt-up.htm
  10. Suzano S.A., Suzano is setting up a new terminal in Inocência (MS), news release, August 21, 2023 (rail to Santos, 44 wagons). https://www.suzano.com.br/en/news-post/suzano-is-setting-up-a-new-terminal-in-inocencia-ms-to-transport-production-from-the-new-factory-in-ribas-do-rio-pardo
  11. Datamar News, Suzano sets record for pulp shipments through Port of Santos, February 23, 2026. https://datamarnews.com/noticias/suzano-sets-record-for-pulp-shipments-through-port-of-santos/
  12. Folha Vitória, Portocel vai operar terminal da Suzano em Santos, January 31, 2024 (6.24 million tons of pulp in 2023); and Portocel, Quem somos (ownership, 60% claim), undated. https://www.folhavitoria.com.br/folha-business/portocel-vai-operar-terminal-da-suzano-em-santos/
  13. EUWID Pulp and Paper, Suzano receives first vessel for pulp transport from Cosco, January 10, 2024; Pulpapernews, The world's largest woodpulp specialized vessel completes its first journey to China, April 12, 2024 (departure March 4, arrival April 9); IPIM Macao, April 12, 2024 (72,000 tons). Five weeks is our count of days. https://www.pulpapernews.com/en/node/15569
  14. Datamar News, Bracell scores new single-vessel container shipment record, March 2, 2022. https://datamarnews.com/noticias/bracell-scores-new-single-vessel-cointainer-shipment-record/
  15. Suzano S.A., Earnings Release 2Q26, August 12, 2026 (port inventories about 2.7 million tons, mostly softwood). https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/0000909327/000090932726000064/earningsrelease_2t26xen.htm
  16. Suzano S.A., Form 20-F for 2024, financial report pages Inventories (R$1,510,985 thousand foreign finished pulp) and Trade accounts receivable (R$7,090,160 thousand foreign third parties), filed April 2025. https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/909327/000162828025020368/R14.htm
  17. Fastmarkets, Price Methodology, Global Pulp, August 2026. https://www.fastmarkets.com/uploads/2026/08/FM_Price_Methodology_Global_Pulp_August_2026-1.pdf
  18. Suzano S.A., Form 20-F for 2025, filed March 23, 2026, Risk Factors (credit risk of customers). https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/909327/000090932726000045/suz-20251231.htm
  19. Pulp and Paper Canada, Credit concerns create pulp backlogs, October 16, 2008 (reporting a COSCO Canada executive via the National Post). https://www.pulpandpapercanada.com/credit-concerns-create-pulp-backlogs-1000085611/
  20. ICC Documentary Credits World, China uses L/C intervention to cool economy, July 28, 2004 (reporting Carter Holt Harvey executives). https://library.iccwbo.org/content/tfb/news/dcwn_28July200414538.htm
  21. Suzano S.A., Suzano Day 2025 presentation, December 2025 (bleached chemical pulp end use 2024: tissue 30 of 65 million tons; company estimate). https://s201.q4cdn.com/761980458/files/doc_news/2025/12/SuzanoDay/Suzano-Day-2025-Consolidado-V10_PDF-2.pdf
  22. Suzano S.A., Suzano Biopulp product page, uses of eucalyptus pulp, undated (read October 17, 2026). https://suzano.com.br/en/products-and-brands/raw-material/pulp
  23. Metsä Fibre, Softwood pulp and Pulp product pages (hardwood gives thickness, smoother surface, absorbency), undated. https://www.metsagroup.com/metsafibre/products-and-services/pulp/
  24. Morais F.P. and others, Comparative characterization of eucalyptus fibers and softwood fibers for tissue papers applications, Materials Letters: X, vol. 4, 2019. https://cicecoteste.web.ua.pt/eng/publicationdetail/comparative-characterization-of-eucalyptus-fibers-and-softwood-fibers-for-tissue-papers-applications
  25. UN Comtrade, pulp (HS 470100, 470200, 470311, 470319, 470321, 470329, 470500), 2015 to 2025, as reported by Brazil and China; exporter's data used when the exporter is one of our 10 reporters and weights pass our checks, otherwise the importer's data; downloaded October 2026 and checked by us. 2025 data may be revised. https://comtradeplus.un.org/

Trade figures come from UN Comtrade (2015 to 2025, as reported by 10 countries) and FAOSTAT (1961 to 2024), checked and recalculated by us; each chart names whose data it uses. All tons are metric tons. All facts on this page are as of October 27, 2026, the date of publication, and may have changed since. For rules and tariffs, check the pulp watch before you act.

About this page. Prepared for Ossiano Capital. People planned, researched, wrote and checked this page, using AI tools to help with research and checking. You are welcome to quote or reuse it: please credit Ossiano Capital and link to this page.

Shrinivas G https://www.mashedavocado.com
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