Helsinki, Finland, 10 July 2008 – UPM has completed the rebuild of the chemical recovery plant at its Kymi pulp mill in Kuusankoski. The new plant has started operations after a one month test period preceded by large connecting work between production lines. During the connecting works, the paper mill was shut down for six days at the end of May.

Construction of the new recovery plant started in May 2006. The plant is the biggest ongoing investment project not only for UPM but also for the whole Finnish forest industry. The project employed up to 1057 people. The final investment value exceeds EUR 340 million.

The new recovery plant replaces two outdated chemical recovery lines by one modern line. The investment helps make Kymi a very competitive mill with integrated pulp and fine paper production and an annual paper production capacity of 840,000 metric tons with two paper machines.

The new recovery plant improves Kymi's energy self-sufficiency and production efficiency. In addition, fossil carbon dioxide emissions, odor emissions, and other emissions to the air will be decreased. The new plant enables the mill to increase the use of biofuels and to double bioelectricity production capacity.