Sao Paulo, Brazil, 19 November 2008 -- Aracruz Celulose sent an official clarification to the Brazilian Securities and Exchange Commission (CVM) today reporting that the company has no plans to divest its ownership stake in Veracel - a joint venture with the Swedish-Finnish group Stora Enso. The statement was in response to the CVM's request for clarification in view of reports in the media regarding a supposed sale by Aracruz of its stake in Veracel.

According to the clarification sent to the CVM, signed by Marcos Grodetzky, the company's Finance and Investor Relations officer, Aracruz has not maintained negotiations regarding such an operation with any Stora Enso representative or emissary.

According to Carlos Aguiar, Aracruz's president and CEO, Veracel is a company that is strategically important to Aracruz, both due to its high operating efficiency and its expansion potential. "We have at no moment thought about selling our stake in Veracel; to the contrary, we authorized proceeding with the acquisition of land and the development of forests, as well as with the feasibility study of Veracel 2 expansion project," he said.

Veracel Celulose, a joint venture in which both Aracruz Celulose and Stora Enso hold 50% ownership stakes, is a manufacturing complex in Eunápolis, in the south of the state of Bahia, with capacity to produce 1 million tons of bleached eucalyptus pulp annually. Veracel has approximately 90,000 hectares of eucalyptus plantations intermingled with nearly 115,000 hectares of native reserves in mosaics.