By Brazil Stock Guide – Suzano (B3: SUZB3, NYSE: SUZ) will reduce its capital expenditures to R$ 10.9 billion in 2026, an 18% drop from the R$ 13.3 billion planned for 2025, marking a clear inflection point after one of the most aggressive investment cycles in the company’s history. The new guidance was approved by the board on Tuesday and reflects the gradual normalization of spending following the delivery of its flagship expansion projects.
The retrenchment is broad-based. Maintenance capex will fall to R$ 7.3 billion from R$ 7.8 billion, driven mainly by lower forest upkeep costs after a major standing timber swap completed earlier this year. Expansion, modernization and other projects will shrink to R$ 0.8 billion from R$ 1.5 billion, as large industrial investments announced in 2023 lose momentum. Spending on land and forests will decline to R$ 2.6 billion from R$ 3.1 billion, while Project Cerrado — the company’s newest pulp megamill — will see residual payments fall sharply to just R$ 0.2 billion from R$ 0.9 billion.
The Cerrado line item now largely reflects performance bonuses linked to the overdelivery of contractual parameters at the new mill, rather than fresh construction outlays. At the same time, Suzano disclosed that the expansion and modernization bucket does not yet reflect the impact of an estimated R$ 145 million in ICMS tax credit monetization tied to its tissue expansion project in Espírito Santo, which could further soften net cash spending next year.
Suzano is transitioning from a capex-heavy build-out phase into a period of stronger free cash flow generation, with operational leverage increasing as the newest assets mature. Management emphasized that the reduction in forest investments also reflects greater planting efficiency and lower reliance on third-party standing timber purchases after restructuring its long-term wood supply strategy.
While the company maintained its 2025 capex guidance unchanged, executives cautioned that the newly released figures for 2026 remain forward-looking estimates subject to market conditions, currency volatility and macroeconomic shifts in Brazil and abroad. Even so, the scale of the step-down underscores a strategic pivot toward tighter capital discipline just as global pulp markets show signs of cyclical stabilization.