In February 2017, Stora Enso announced that it planned to permanently shut down No. 8 paper machine (PM 8) at Kvarnsveden Mill in Sweden due to structural weakening of magazine paper demand in Europe. Co-determination negotiations with employees at the mill are still ongoing, but PM 8 was permanently shut down earlier this week. The number of people affected by the reorganization of the mill and shutdown will be determined during Q3 2017.

PM 8 had an annual capacity of 100,000 metric tons of supercalendered uncoated magazine paper (SC). The closure of PM 8 at Kvarnsveden Mill will not impact Stora Enso’s SC paper offering. In Europe, the company continues to produce SC paper at Kvarnsveden Mill PM 12 as well at Maxau Mill in Germany and Langerbrugge Mill in Belgium. The group also serves its SC customers from Dawang Mill in China. Production at Kvarnsveden Mill will continue on two lines, PM 10 for improved newsprint paper and PM 12 for SC papers.

Stora Enso will make every effort in co-operation with the local community to help the affected personnel find new employment opportunities, and mitigate the impact of the reorganization and PM 8 closure through individual solutions. All job openings in other Stora Enso units will be available to those affected.

Stora Enso is a provider of renewable solutions in packaging, biomaterials, wooden constructions, and paper on global markets. The company employs some 25,000 people in more than 35 countries, and its sales in 2016 were EUR 9.8 billion.