Finland's last forestry giant also completely withdraws from the Russian market

With the Finnish forest giant Metsä Groupfollowing the footsteps of UPM and Stora Enso and announcing its fullwithdrawal from the Russian market, it marks that the Finnish timber industrygiant has completely withdrawn from its business layout in Russia.

Previously, Finland has always been animportant participant in the Russian forest industry and is one of the topthree importers in the Russian forest market. However, with a series ofsanctions imposed by Europe on Russia, UPM and Stora Enso decided to withdrawfrom the Russian market in April and August 2023, respectively, and Metsä Groupfinally stopped all its business activities in Russia in 2024, including theoperation of Svir sawmills, wood procurement and cardboard sales.

According to a statement from the MetsäGroup, the group no longer holds any assets in Russia. But this decision hasundoubtedly exacerbated the tension in timber resources in Finland and even theentire European Union. Especially in 2023, Finland became one of the countriesmost affected by Russian sanctions, and manufacturers in its southeast regionare highly dependent on Russian fiber supplies to produce paper and plywoodproducts.

Metsa Svir sawmill was once an importantpart of Finland's wood processing industry, with a sawmill capacity of up to280,000 cubic meters and a wood chip capacity of 150,000 cubic meters. However,with the withdrawal of the Metsa Group, the closure of the sawmill has putgreat pressure on the wood resources of Finland and even the European Union.Ali Harlin, a research professor at the VTT Technical Research Center ofFinland, pointed out: "We have fallen into a serious shortage of wood,especially in southeastern Finland." He further emphasized that woodsupply has become one of the key challenges facing the country's 33 billioneuro industry.

Quoted from: pulpaperinfo