The Helsinki, Finland District Court this week rendered a judgement whereby it has dismissed the damages claim of Metsähallitus against Finnish companies UPM, Stora Enso, and Metsäliitto Cooperative (a Metsä company domestic cooperative) which was based on a questionable reading of competition restrictions concerning the raw wood market found by a lower court decision in December 2009.

The District Court ordered Metsähallitus to pay compensation for legal expenses.

According to Metsähallitus’ claim, the forestry companies had caused damage to Metsähallitus on the basis of the competition restriction found by the lower market court decision of 2009. Metsähallitus claimed that due to the competition restriction, the forestry companies had paid underprice to Metsähallitus in raw wood sales contracts. The capital amount of Metsähallitus’ claim was in total approximately EUR 159.4 million, of which approximately EUR 22.6 million was based on agreements between Metsähallitus and UPM.

UPM, in a release yesterday (June 22) addressing the ruling had agreed with the District Court. The company maintained that it had not caused the alleged damage to Metsähallitus.