UPM Plywood is planning to scale down plywood production in Finland

(UPM Plywood, Lahti, 02.06.2020 at 12:00) – UPM Plywood is planning to permanently close its Jyväskylä plywood mill, which is producing spruce and birch plywood. The company starts a consultation process concerning the entire personnel working at the mill.

UPM Jyväskylä plywood mill employs 167 people.

The Profitability of Jyväskylä plywood mill has been weak for a long time, even during periods of high-demand. Despite investments as well as savings and improvement activities, the profitability has not improved to a sustainable level.

Competition in the birch plywood market is increasing constantly. New birch plywood capacity has been built especially in Russia, where the production cost level is significantly more competitive than in Finland. If realized, the planned actions would strengthen UPM Plywood’s overall competitiveness and performance in the long run.

"In Finland, a full run of the capacity has not been feasible due to the terms in the woodworking industry. In addition, repeated labour market disturbances have weakened the delivery reliability of Finnish mills. According to the plan, the products currently manufactured in Jyväskylä would be produced in other UPM Plywood mills in Finland, Estonia, and Russia”, says Mika Sillanpää, EVP UPM Plywood.

UPM will recognise restructuring charges of approximately EUR 22 million as items affecting comparability in its Q2 2020 results. The planned actions would result in annual savings of approximately EUR 11 million.

For further information please contact:
Mika Sillanpää, Executive Vice President, UPM Plywood, tel. +358 40 588 3284 (UPM Media Relations)

UPM, Media Relations
Mon-Fri 9:00-16:00 EET
tel. +358 40 588 3284
media@upm.com

UPM Plywood offers high quality WISA® plywood and veneer products for construction, vehicle flooring, LNG shipbuilding, parquet manufacturing and other industrial applications. In 2019 UPM Plywood sales was EUR 450 million and it had around 2,400 employees. UPM has six plywood mills and one veneer mill in Finland as well as plywood mills in Russia and Estonia. – www.wisaplywood.com

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UPM
We deliver renewable and responsible solutions and innovate for a future beyond fossils across six business areas: UPM Biorefining, UPM Energy, UPM Raflatac, UPM Specialty Papers, UPM Communication Papers and UPM Plywood. As the industry leader in responsibility we are committed to the UN Business Ambition for 1.5°C and the science-based targets to mitigate climate change. We employ 18,700 people worldwide and our annual sales are approximately EUR 10.2 billion. Our shares are listed on Nasdaq Helsinki Ltd. UPM Biofore – Beyond fossils. www.upm.com

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