A responsible forest industry group

We are Metsä Group, a Finnish forest industry group that operates in international markets.  We use the best renewable raw material in the world – northern wood – responsibly and efficiently.

All of the wood raw material we use is fully traceable. Products made from renewable raw materials are in high demand, as competition for natural resources is tight.

Our business operations cover the entire value chain for wood. We focus on tissue and cooking papers, paperboard, pulp, wood products, and wood supply and forest services. Our strong wood and fibre expertise is concentrated in fields where we have a clear competitive advantage and a bright future.

In addition to an excellent raw material, forests provide lots of renewable energy. We are one of the leading producers and users of renewable energy in Finland. Energy efficiency and the use of renewable energy are key ways to fight climate change, and they also improve our cost-efficiency and competitiveness.​

We are Metsä Group

 Metsä Group consists of Metsäliitto Cooperative, its two businesses Metsä Wood and Metsä Forest, and its subsidiaries Metsä Tissue, Metsä Board and Metsä Fibre. Metsäliitto Cooperative is the parent company of Metsä Group. It is owned by around 104,000 forest owners.

Metsä Group stands out from the competition because of its ownership base and business structure, which also give its operations a long-term perspective. Through Metsäliitto Cooperative’s owner-members, Metsä Group has access to a considerable reserve of premium-quality raw material, which provides a stable, long-term foundation for the development of its operations and production plants.

The administrative bodies of parent company Metsäliitto Cooperative are the Representative Council, the Supervisory Board, the Board of Directors  and the President and CEO. Metsä Group's Executive Management Team  assists the President and CEO in business planning and operative management and prepares proposals to the Board of Directors.

The story of moose head

The use of the head of a moose as the symbol of Metsä Group dates back to the 198​0s, when the name of Metsä Board was Metsä-Serla. Erik Bruun, a Finnish artist professor and an internationally recognised graphic artist, designed the symbol for Metsä-Serla to illustrate the company’s Finnish roots and close links to the forest.

When Metsä Group’s corporate image was renewed in 2012, the head of a moose was still as relevant as ever, strongly symbolising the qualities that Metsä Group wants to be known for: responsibility and deep roots in Finnish forests. The new colour – a fresh green – and the modernised shape of the symbol illustrate a future-focused group that has the ability to reinvent itself.

The new shape for the symbol was designed by Petteri Järvelin. Approval from Erik Bruun, the original designer, was an important part of the process.

Learn more about the Metsä brand from Metsä Group's brand tool​.

More than 80 years of history

Metsäliitto Cooperative, the parent company of Metsä Group, has its roots deep in the cooperative movement, which reached Finland in the early twentieth century. Forest owners decided to join forces to establish a stronger position in timber trade negotiations. The operations started with shared sales, and in 1934 Metsäliitto Oy was established to broaden this with timber exports. The company has been a cooperative since 1947. It established its first sawmills in 1949 and expanded its operations into the chemical forest industry in the 1950s.

The Finnish forest industry grew rapidly and became increasingly international from the 1960s onwards. It developed into one of the cornerstones of well-being and prosperity in Finland. Metsäliitto Cooperative expanded its operations as well. Important milestones included the formation of Metsä-Serla in 1986 and the growth and development of the pulp industry within Metsä-Botnia Oy. In the 1990s, a decade of rapid growth, Metsäliitto invested strongly in both the Finnish and international markets.

By the early 2000s, Metsäliitto Group had become an international forest group with more than 25,000 employees in dozens of countries. A systematic structural change was implemented between 2005 and 2012, with Metsäliitto Group changing its name to Metsä Group and renewing its corporate identity. The change represented the final stage in a profound restructuring to create a unified and competitive forest industry group. Its operations continue to be founded on the principles of cooperation and working for the best of Finnish forest owners.

This is a good beginning.