Helsinki, Finland, 04 September 2008 – UPM inauguarated its plywood mill expansion in Otepää, Estonia, today. The expansion and modernization of production has improved the manufacturing efficiency and working conditions of the mill and increased its annual base plywood production capacity to 50,000 m³.

The expansion work will continues in at the beginning of 2009 with the building of a plywood coating line. The target is to increase the processing value of plywood products manufactured at the Otepää mill. "Building coating capacity at Otepää helps us to meet increasing customer needs also with coated plywood products. With the coating line in operation, Otepää mill is able to coat half of the panels produced," said Ando Jukk, mill manager.

UPM's Otepää plywood mill manufactures high quality, Forest Stewardship Council-certified WISA birch plywood mainly for transport and construction industries. Birch logs for the plywood are primarily procured from local forests.

Otepää mill was founded in 2000 and will employ some 165 people after the new coating line has been completed. The mill (UPM-Kymmene Otepää AS) was this year ranked the third best company in Estonia by the Estonian business paper Äripäev.