UPM announces permanent closure of three paper machines

BRUSSELS (Scrap Monster): Helsinki, Finland-headquartered UPM-Kymmene Corp. has announced its decision to permanently close down three paper machines. According to the company two machines at its Finland operations and one in the UK will be idled.

As per the company statement, it has decided to cease operations of Paper Machine No 2 at Kaukas mill and Paper Machine No 5 at UPM Jämsänkoski, both in Finland. In addition, the Paper Machine No 1 at the UK Shotton mill will also be idled. The operations at all the three locations will come to an end by March 31^st this year.

The announced closure is expected to remove nearly 675,000 metric tons of finished paper products from the market, consisting of nearly 460,000 metric tons of coated and uncoated magazine paper capacity and 215,000 metric tons capacity of newsprint paper.

The company says that the prevailing low market demand has forced them to close the machines. According to them, the European paper market currently suffers from overcapacity. The idling of the three machines will help them to streamline their European operations by more efficient use of remaining machines in the region.

UPM’ Kaukas paper mill manufactures coated magazine papers and has an annual capacity of 560,000 metric tons. The Jämsänkoski facility has a combined annual capacity of 1.6 million metric tons. UPM’s Shotton facility manufactures newsprint paper and has an annual capacity of 490,000 metric tons.

Meantime, UPM has also announced that it has decided to go ahead with the closure of Paper Machine No 3 at the Chapelle, France mill.