We have the courage to renew. Altogether, our investments since 2015 will be approximately 7 billion euros, including completed, ongoing and planned investments.
The growth and profitability prospects of all our businesses are good. In Sweden, we are increasing our folding boxboard capacity and tissue paper production in Mariestad. We are also conducting a pre-study related to the construction of a first commercial mill for producing Muoto™ packaging products on our Rauma mill site in Finland.
Metsä Group's new bioproduct mill in Kemi, Finland was started up in the autumn of 2023. 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 employs directly 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 was almost 10,000 person-years of which over half in Kemi.
The Kemi bioproduct mill produces 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 is approximately 7.6 million cubic meters. The aim is to source the pulpwood for the mill from Finland. The bioproduct mill is the world top regarding to productional, environmental and energy efficiency. The mill does 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 took approximately two and a half years, and the mill was started up in September 2023.
Metsä Fibre built a new pine sawmill in its mill area in Rauma. Production started in the autumn on 2022. The value of the investment is approximately EUR 260 million, and it is the largest sawmill investment in the history in Finland.
The Rauma sawmill is 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 producea about 750,000 cubic meters of pine sawn timber per year and uses 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 was high, about 70%, and the construction phase employed 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.
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.
The extension of Metsä Board’s Kemi paperboard mill came into operation on September 2023. The modernisation and bottleneck investments of the paperboard mill will increase the annual production capacity of white top kraftliner by around 40,000 tonnes to 465,000 tonnes. The integration of the bioproduct mill and the paperboard mill, as well as the modernisation of the paperboard mill’s production line, will considerably improve the paperboard mill’s water and energy efficiency. The investments will reduce the mill’s water consumption by 40 per cent and energy use by 5 per cent per tonne of paperboard produced.
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.
In June 2023, Metsä Wood decided to build a new Kerto LVL mill in Äänekoski, Finland, to produce beam and panel products used in the construction industry. Kerto LVL products significantly reduce the carbon footprint of buildings compared to many other materials. The value of the investment is EUR 300 million, and the mill is expected to begin production in late 2026.
The mill’s annual production capacity is approximately 160,000 cubic metres, which represents a 50 per cent increase in Metsä Group’s total Kerto LVL capacity. The new mill will use around 400,000 cubic metres of log procured from Finland.
The mill will be a global forerunner in its field in terms of its technology and efficiency. The new mill will have a direct employment impact of around 150 new jobs. It will also add some 200 jobs to its direct value chain. The employment impact of the construction phase is estimated to be approximately 1,000 person-years.
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.
Metsä Forest
Metsä Wood
Metsä Fibre
Metsä Board
Metsä Tissue