Branco, AméliaAmélia, Pedro2025-04-162025-04-162018Branco, Amélia and Pedro Amélia .(2018). “From backward to modern: the adoption of technology by the pulp industry in Portugal, 1891–2015”. In Technological transformation in the global pulp and paper industry 1800–2018: comparative perspectives. Timo Sarkka, Miquel Gutiérrez-Poch and Mark Kuhlberg (Editors). Chapter 6: pp. 111-132. Springer Nature, Switzerland.978-3-319-94961-1http://hdl.handle.net/10400.5/100222In 2015, Portugal was the third largest European producer of pulp with 7.3% of total output. National production of virgin wood pulp stood at 2,662,000 tons of which 45% was exported to over two dozen countries. Portuguese imports of paper-grade pulp stood at 129,000 tons, a level that makes the country a net exporter of paper-grade pulp. The largest Portuguese pulp producer, Navigator, is also a global producer of uncoated, wood-free printing and writing paper. This picture totally contrasts with that prevailing during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. At that time, there was only one plant in operation that produced chemical pulp, whose output was sold almost entirely to export markets. In 1911 the production capacity of this plant was 3,500 tons and in 1930 it was only slightly above that level (4,343 tons). The main raw material of the Portuguese paper industry was rags and the plants were technologically backward, although some companies had already adopted continuous paper machines. The wood pulp consumed by these paper units was covered by imports, making Portugal a net importer of pulp. All this changed by the mid-twentieth century. At that time, the wood pulp industry in Portugal grew dramatically because it was considered a strategic sector under the state development policy. This factor gave birth to the first plant that processed eucalyptus to produce sulphate pulp, and the enterprise was oriented toward export markets.engPulp IndustryAdoption TechnologyCompetitive AdvantagesEucalyptusSulphate PulpExport Marketsbook partdoi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-94962-8