FAQ

Metsä Board's vision is to be the preferred supplier of innovative and sustainable fibre-based packaging solutions, creating value for customers globally.

Company's strategy is to grow in fibre-based packaging materials and renew its industrial operations. Strategy is implemented through five strategic programmes. Read more about Metsä Board's strategy in here. 

Metsä Board's target for return on capital employed (ROCE) is at least 12% and the ratio of interest-bearing net debt to comparable EBITDA is a maximum of 2.5. Read more about Metsä Board's financial targets in here.

In folding boxboard, Metsä Board's main customers are brand owners, converters and merchants. In white kraftliners, the most important customers are corrugated packaging manufacturers.

Metsä Board's main competitors are other producers of high-quality paperboards mainly for consumer packaging purposes. In Europe, Metsä Board is the leading producer of folding boxboard and white kraftliners. Globally Metsä Board is the largest producer of coated white kraftliners.

Read more about capacities of folding boxboard and white kraftliners in Europe in here.

Metsä Board has seven production units, of which six are in Finland and one is in Sweden. Metsä Board's strategic choice is to have production close to its main raw material, Northern fibre.

Read more about Metsä Board's mills and production capacities in here.

Metsä Board's products are sold globally to around 90 countries. Europe and North-America are Metsä Board's main markets. The sales split in 2025 was: Europee 67%, Americas 27% and Emerging markets 6%. 

In the recent years, growth has been fastest in the US, which today is Metsä Board's largest single country in terms of paperboard deliveries. Instead, the importance of the APAC region, and China in particular, is emphasised through the market pulp business and the business of associated company Metsä Fibre. 

A detailed geographical split of sales can be found in Metsä Board's 2025 Annual review, p. 110.

The need for packaging is growing due to the population growth, urbanization and rising living standards. Regulation and consumers preferences favor fossil-free packaging materials. Lightweight and fully recyclable fresh fibre paperboards support principles of circular economy and provide and alternative to plastic packaging. In addition, demand for fresh fibre paperboards is boosted by the reduced availability and quality of recycled fibres. 

Read more about long term growth drivers for fresh fibre paperboards in here. 

Metsä Board's paperboards are stiff, but yet light-weight. This provides a yield advantage compared to other paperboard grades in similar end uses. Production is resource efficient: less raw materials, water and energy is needed in the production. The main raw material is renewable and traceble wood and all Metsä Board's paperboards are recyclable and/or compostable. They can be in direct contact with food without substances that could migrate into food. 

In addition, Metsä Board's paperboards are high-quality paperboards with excellent printability and runnability.

Case studies¹⁾ show that Metsä Board’s folding boxboard can significantly reduce the carbon footprint of packaging compared with many alternative materials. This is mainly driven by lightweighting and the use of fossil-free energy. Fresh fibre paperboards are stronger than recycled fibre-based boards, allowing the same performance with less material, which lowers weight and emissions. In addition, Metsä Board uses fossil-free energy for 93% of its total energy consumption and aims to reach 100% by 2030, further reducing the carbon footprint of its paperboards over time. 

1) Read more in here 

Metsä Board has in recent years invested heavily in increasing capacity, improving the competitiveness of its mills, and transitioning to the use of fossil‑free energy. The company is currently focused on fully utilising the investments already made, as well as enhancing operational efficiency and capital use.

Metsä Board targets organic growth across all regions by accelerating expansion in Europe through stronger brand‑owner partnerships and improved service, strengthening its long‑standing presence in the Americas, and pursuing new scalable opportunities in emerging markets. Over time,

Metsä Board’s target is to distribute a dividend of at least half of the financial period’s result, taking into account the company’s future investment and development needs. No dividend is proposed for 2025 due to the loss‑making result. The company is implementing a transformation programme aimed at improving annual EBITDA by EUR 200 million by the end of 2027.

In 2025, Metsä Board’s total investments amounted to EUR 140 million, of which maintenance represented roughly 40% and growth and development projects about 60%. With the major investments now completed, the company is shifting its focus to fully utilising them and improving operational efficiency and capital use.

For 2026, Metsä Board expects total investments to be clearly below EUR 100 million, with maintenance estimated at EUR 40–50 million.

As part of its transformation programme and efforts to use capital more efficiently, Metsä Board decided in autumn 2025 to discontinue all pre‑engineering investment projects.

Read more about Metsä Board's recently completed investments in here.

Metsä Board is part of Metsä Group and benefits from its unique value chain, which spans from northern forests to high‑quality end products. The parent company, Metsäliitto Cooperative—Metsä Board’s largest shareholder—is owned by roughly 90,000 private Finnish forest owners. Metsä Group, which also manages Metsä Board’s wood sourcing, purchased around 30 million cubic metres of wood in 2025. Neither Metsä Group nor Metsä Board owns forest land. Metsä Board is the only publicly listed company within Metsä Group, and three of the nine Board members have ties to Metsäliitto Cooperative.

Metsä Board owns 24.9% of Metsä Fibre, a global leader in softwood market pulp. The other owners are Metsäliitto Cooperative (55.2%) and Itochu Corporation (19.9%). Metsä Fibre’s annual capacity is approximately 4 million tonnes of pulp and 2.1 million cubic metres of sawn timber. In addition to its own pulp and BCTMP production, Metsä Board also purchases (especially hardwood) pulp from Metsä Fibre.

Metsä Fibre’s financial performance has a significant impact on Metsä Board, as Metsä Board’s consolidated EBITDA includes its 24.9% share of Metsä Fibre’s net result. In addition, Metsä Board receives an annual dividend from Metsä Fibre corresponding to its ownership share. 

Metsä Board produces both chemical pulp and bleached chemi‑thermomechanical pulp (BCTMP), mainly used in own production, but some sold as market pulp.  The annual capacity for chemical pulp is 730 kt in Husum and 180 kt in Kemi. Part of Husum’s capacity is sold as market pulp, whereas Kemi’s capacity is fully integrated into kraftliner production. Metsä Board also produces BCTMP mainly for its own use, with a total annual capacity of 750 kt.

In 2025, Metsä Board's market pulp sales totalled 368kt.

In addition, Metsä Board owns 24.9% of its associated company Metsä Fibre, whose annual pulp capacity is roughly 4 million tonnes. Norra Skog, a Swedish forest owners’ cooperative, holds a 30% minority stake in Metsä Board’s Husum pulp mill. Taking into account Metsä Board’s own pulp production and consumption as well as its ownership in Metsä Fibre, the company’s calculated pulp position is 0.5–1 million tonnes per year in surplus.

Sensitivity to market pulp prices:
A 10% increase (decrease) in the market pulp price would have an approximately EUR 40 million positive (negative) impact on Metsä Board’s annual operating result.

BCTMP (bleached chemi-thermomechanical pulp) means bleached chemical pulp. Its manufacture combines mechanical and chemical pulping processes for removing the fibres. The middle layer of folding boxboard's three-layer structure is BCTMP and the outer layers are chemical pulp. BCTMP makes the folding boxboard lightweight yet stiff. 

BCTMP uses significantly less wood because a larger share of the raw material remains in the final product. Producing one tonne of chemical pulp typically requires about 5 m³ of wood, whereas BCTMP can be produced with roughly half of that amount.

Metsä Board's A and B series shares are listed on the Nasdaq Helsinki in the Large Cap segment. The difference between the A and B shares is in their voting rights. Each series A share entitles its holder to twenty (20) votes at a general meeting of shareholders, and each series B share entitles the holder to one (1) vote. All shares carry the same right to receive a dividend.

The largest shareholder is Metsäliitto Cooperative, with 52% share of total shares and 69% of total votes.

Monthly updated list of Metsä Board's biggest shareholders can be found in here.

The end use of a packaging material largely determines the type of raw material that can be used in its production. For example, in food, retail and pharma packaging, the purity and safety of the packaging is crucial, and for this end-use, fresh fibre is the right choice. 

In addition, case studies¹⁾ show that Metsä Board’s folding boxboard can significantly reduce the carbon footprint of packaging compared with many alternative materials. This is mainly driven by lightweighting and the use of fossil-free energy. Fresh fibre paperboards are stronger than recycled fibre-based boards, allowing the same performance with less material, which lowers weight and emissions. In addition, Metsä Board uses fossil-free energy for 93% of its total energy consumption and aims to reach 100% by 2030, further reducing the carbon footprint of its paperboards over time. 

1) Read more here

Metsä Board’s business is built on the principles of the circular economy, using renewable and traceable wood as its main raw material. The company’s high‑quality paperboards are excellent recycling materials for subsequent uses, and most grades are also compostable. More than 99% of production side streams are recycled, and water is circulated efficiently—typically 12–14 times in board mills and up to 30 times in BCTMP mills—significantly reducing resource use.