Finnforest's Solid Wood Division cutting back production

26.06.01
Output at the Finnforest sawmills will be reduced by 140,000 cubic metres in
the latter half of the current year, meaning a cutback of around 12 per cent on
the figure for the corresponding six months of 2000. 

The factors necessitating the cut in production are a difficult market
situation, a sharp fall in sales prices and a moderate over-supply of softwood
timber to the principal export markets. 

Finnforest Corporation's total output of sawn timber was 2,277,000 cubic metres
last year and the Solid Wood Division's average number of employees was 1,122. 

Finnforest's core businesses are the production and marketing of
higher-value-added wood products, plywood and sawn timber. The main customer
groups are industrial end-users, DIY stores and timber merchants as well as
building suppliers. Finnforest is Europe's leading supplier of solutions and
services in relation to the use of wood. The Corporation has a strategy of
continually raising the standard of its customer services by broadening its
product palette. Eleven of the twelve sawmills are in Finland, one in Estonia.
Each sawmill concentrates on processing either pine or spruce. Finnforest has
operations in 20 countries, employs over 4,000 people and has annual turnover
of €1.2 billion. It is part of the Metsäliitto Group. 

Additional info: Finnforest Corporation, Director Timo Pekkola, Solid Wood
Division, tel. +358 1046 74743 or +358 400 650 184