UPM Plans to Curtail Production at its Plywood Mills


Helsinki, Finland 21 November 2012 -- UPM plans to curtail production at its plywood mills in Finland due to declining demand and difficult raw material availability caused by the prolonged wet autumn. The company starts co-operative negotiations with the personnel on lay-offs lasting maximum of 90 days during the first half of 2013. The negotiations cover the company’s Joensuu, Jyväskylä, Ristiina and Savonlinna plywood mills.

”The plywood market in Europe has been declining; in addition, the seasonal decline in demand is shortening the order books. Also, due to the wet autumn, the difficult availability and high price of logs is threatening the normal operation of our plywood mills. Thus, we will prepare to curtail production with lay-offs but they will be executed only if necessary. Should the market and raw material situation develop favourably, the lay-offs will not be realised”, says Kim Poulsen, Senior Vice President at UPM Plywood.

The co-operative negotiations on lay-offs will start immediately and they are estimated to be completed by the end of the year. The negotiations will take place separately at each mill and they cover total of 1 300 persons working in production and related office duties at the mills.