Stora Enso's Sawmills in Finland Face Protential Lay-offs


Helsinki, Finland 15 June 2010 -- Stora Enso will start co-determination negotiations concerning possible temporary lay-offs at its Finnish sawmills at Kitee, Uimaharju, Varkaus, and Honkalahti. The planned lay-offs are in response to the threat that wood cost levels in Finland will become even more uncompetitive if current trends continue.

“We are increasingly concerned by the trend in Finnish raw material prices. We need to prepare ourselves to take rapid corrective actions if raw material prices continue to escalate and can no longer be compensated by increases in end-product prices or efficiency improvements,” said Hannu Kasurinen, executive vice president, Stora Enso Wood Products.

The total number of employees affected by the co-determination negotiations in Finland is about 500. The negotiations address the plan to curtail production at individual sawmills if necessary through temporary lay-offs between 01 September and 31 December 2010. In Finland Stora Enso has a total capacity of about 1.3 million cubic meters of sawn timber per year.

Stora Enso is a global paper, packaging and wood products company producing newsprint and book paper, magazine paper, fine paper, consumer board, industrial packaging, and wood products. The Group is the world leader in forest industry sustainability. Stora Enso employs some 27,000 people worldwide, and had sales in 2009 amounting to EUR 8.9 billion. Stora Enso shares are listed on NASDAQ OMX Helsinki (STEAV, STERV) and Stockholm (STE A, STE R). In addition, the shares are traded in the USA as ADRs (SEOAY) in the International OTCQX over-the-counter market.