Investing in future growth

We are a frontrunner in the forest industry with the courage to renew. A good example of this is the total investment of over four and a half billion euros in increasing and developing our production from 2015 onwards. This period includes the construction of a state-of-the-art bioproduct mill in Äänekoski, a new birch plywood mill in Pärnu, new production lines for the Kerto mills in Lohja and Punkaharju in Finland as well as many ongoing investments.

The growth and profitability prospects of all our businesses are good. Metsä Group is currently building the world's most modern sawmill in Rauma and a new generation bioproduct mill in Kemi. In Sweden, we are renewing the Husum pulp mill and increasing our folding boxboard capacity. We are also preparing to increase tissue paper production in Mariestad.

Bioproduct mill project

Metsä Fibre, part of Metsä Group, is buildin a new bioproduct mill in Kemi, Finland. The value of the investment is EUR 2.02 billion and it is the largest investment ever made by the Finnish forest industry in Finland. 

The Kemi bioproduct mill will directly employ approximately 250 people and, in its entire direct value chain, roughly 2,500 people in total. There is an increase of 1,500 people compared to the current situation. The employment impact in the construction phase is almost 10,000 person-years of which over half in Kemi.

The Kemi bioproduct mill would produce some 1.5 million tonnes of softwood and hardwood pulp a year as well as numerous other bioproducts. The annual pulpwood consumption of the new Kemi bioproduct mill would be approximately 7.6 million cubic meters. The aim is to source the pulpwood for the mill from Finland.  The bioproduct mill would be the world top regarding to productional, environmental and energy efficiency. The mill would not use any fossil fuels at all and its self-sufficiency in electricity is 250%.

The environmental and water supply permits to the Kemi bioproduct mill were granted in December 2020 and the investment decision was made in February 2021. The construction phase will take approximately two and a half years, and the mill will be completed during the third quarter of 2023.

Pine sawmill project

Metsä Fibre is building a new pine sawmill in its mill area in Rauma. The value of the investment is approximately EUR 200 million, and it is the largest sawmill investment in the history in Finland. Construction of the new sawmill began in spring 2020 and production is scheduled to start by the end of 2022.

The Rauma sawmill will be the most modern and efficient sawmill in the world, where the level of utilization of new technology and data is clearly higher than in the current sawmills. The sawmill will produce about 750,000 cubic meters of pine sawn timber per year and use about 1.5 million cubic meters of Finnish logs for its production.

The new sawmill employs directly about 100 people and its direct value chain about 500 people. The degree of domesticity in construction is high, about 70%, and the construction phase employs 1,500 people.

The synergies of the mill integrate formed by the Rauma sawmill and the pulp mill are utilized in energy production, utilization of side streams, logistics and services.

Renewal of the Husum pulp mill and increase of folding boxboard capacity

Metsä Board is renewing the pulp mill of the Husum mill integrate in Sweden in two phases. The investment decision for the first phase of the reform was announced on December 1, 2020. The first phase was the construction of a new recovery boiler and turbine at the mill, which began production in December 2022. The second phase, to be decided later, the mill’s two existing fibre lines will be replaced by one new one. The investment to be made during 2019-2022 is worth a total of approximately EUR 360 million.

The mill's annual pulp capacity of approximately 750,000 tonnes will remain unchanged after the investments, but its cost competitiveness will improve significantly.

Metsä Board also invests EUR 210 million in increasing folding boxboard capacity at the Husum mill.The current annual capacity of the BM1 board machine is 400,000 tonnes of folding boxboard, which will increase to 600,000 tonnes after the investment. The ramp-up of additional capacity is expected to start in Autumn 2023, and full production capacity is expected to be reached by the end of 2025.

Metsä Board has started a development programme for the white-top kraftliner mill in Kemi, enabled by Metsä Fibre's new bioproduct mill investment which was announced in 2021. The total investment value of the programme is approximately EUR 67 million.

The development programme will increase the mill's annual paperboard capacity by approximately 40,000 tonnes. The programme includes a series of modernisation and bottleneck investments in the paperboard production line. As part of the programme, Metsä Board will purchase the modernised unbleached pulp production line with an annual capacity of approximately 180,000 tonnes from Metsä Fibre in 2023.

Increasing tissue paper production in Mariestad

In February 2023, Metsä Tissue decided to expand its production of fresh fibre tissue paper at the Mariestad mill in Sweden. The value of the investment, to be implemented in 2023–2025, is approximately EUR 370 million, making it one of the entire tissue paper industry’s largest investments in Europe. The volume of tissue paper production will increase from approximately 75,000 tonnes at present to around 145,000 tonnes per year. With the investment, Metsä Tissue will strengthen its position as a forerunner in tissue paper industry investments in Sweden and Scandinavia. By expanding local production, Metsä Tissue will on its part contribute to the security of supply of key hygienic tissue paper products. Mariestad mill will produce Nordic tissue paper brands such as Serla, Lambi and Katrin.

The mill expansion includes the construction of a new tissue paper machine, new converting lines, automated storage and new office facilities. The renewed mill will feature the best available technology, significantly improving environmental efficiency in terms of emissions into air and water as well as noise. The environmental efficiency goals will also be supported by increased fresh fibre production. The investment will add around 100 new jobs at the mill, and indirectly around 2,000 person-years during construction.

Metsä Board Kaskinen folding boxboard mill

In September 2022, Metsä Board started preliminary planning for the construction of a new folding boxboard mill with an annual capacity of approximately 800,000 tons at the Kaskinen mill site in Western Finland. Pre-engineering will include technical design, design of infrastructure and logistics solutions, and tendering for the main equipment. Pre-engineering will also include an environmental impact assessment and an environmental permit processes.

The mill design is based on fossil-free production and world-class resource and production efficiency.

A possible investment decision could be made in 2024 at the earliest.