The group's overall sales were €2.13bn, down from €2.83bn in the first quarter of 2008.
Chief executive Jouko Karvinen said the first quarter was as demanding as the company had been expecting.
"The decline in demand led to a large cut of almost one quarter in production compared with the first quarter of the previous year," he said.
Staff will be reduced by 2,000 in an attempt to reduce total fixed costs by €250m per year compared with the 2008 level. The redundancies will be made mostly within administrative roles.
Karvinen said: "These changes will create flat and more consolidated organisations with a wide span of control, but no new organisational layers."
Stora to axe 2,000 positions following 43m pre-tax loss
Stora Enso is to make 2,000 redundancies after posting a first-quarter pre-tax loss of 48.1m euro (43.1m).
