UPM Paper Mill in Finland Announces Permanent Closure

SEATTLE (Scrap Monster): The UPM Communication Papers Kaipola paper mill in Jamsa, Finland will be closed permanently by mid-December this year. The company announced completion of employee consultations with regards to the closure. Meantime, the company’s Jamsankoski paper mill in Jamsa will continue its operations with one graphic paper machine and two specialty paper machines.

The three paper machines at Kaipola mill will be closed permanently. This will result in reduction of UPM’s annual graphic paper capacity by 720,000 tonnes, comprising of 450,000 tonnes of newsprint and 270,000 tonnes of coated mechanical paper. The closure is expected to impact 448 positions at the mill, of which 20 positions will be transferred to adjacent Jamsankoki mill. Nearly one-fifth of the redundancies will be retirements, said the company press release.

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The decision to shut down the paper machines follows thorough assessment of the existing market conditions. Incidentally, the global demand for graphic paper has been on a steady decline over the past several years. The disruptions and economic uncertainties due to Covid-19 pandemic has further worsened the situation.

Winfried Schaur, Executive Vice President for UPM Communication Papers cited high logistics cost, tax rates and cost of labour in Finland along with rising fibre costs as the reasons for the closure.