Stora Enso begins production at consumer board line in Finland
Stora Enso has started operations at its consumer packaging board line in Oulu, Finland. The company aims to boost its offerings in the folding box board and coated unbleached kraft segments. Its first customer deliveries are expected in the second quarter of 2025.
The facility is set to produce unbleached pulp, kraftliner, and consumer board in both reels and sheets.
The consumer board line is estimated to have an annual capacity of 750,000 tons and is expected to break even by the end of 2025, reaching full capacity in 2027.
According to the company, renewable packaging is its largest growth segment. The facility aims to increase solutions for frozen, chilled, and dried food and multi-packaging for customers in Europe and North America.
Stora Enso’s president and CEO Hans Sohlström, says: “The line will be the most modern and cost-efficient in Europe. Through this investment, our Oulu unit will become Stora Enso’s largest production facility, an integrated mega-site, focusing on future packaging board grades and featuring a flexible production setup.”
“This will strengthen profitability and competitiveness for our consumer board and containerboard offerings. It will also enable us to optimize production at our other sites to unlock further profitable growth, for example, in liquid packaging boards at our Skoghall site in Sweden.”
As the facility ramps production, wood consumption at the Oulu site will increase by approximately 1 million cubic meters to approximately 3.5 million cubic meters per year, estimates Stora Enso. The site will use local wood supply and pulp from the company’s Enocell site in Finland and the Veracel site in Brazil.
Last month, Stora Enso announced that by the end of 2024, it had achieved a 53% carbon reduction in GHG Scope 1 and 2 emissions, surpassing the target of a 50% reduction by 2030 from the 2019 base year. The company attributes the reduction to its mitigation measures, such as fuel switches, energy efficiency improvements, and site closures’ impact.
