Nymölla is located in southern Sweden, to the north-east of Malmö. It is an integrated mill that produces chemical pulp and woodfree uncoated paper, including the Multicopy range of office papers.

The mill’s annual capacity is 340,000 tonnes of pulp, and 485,000 tonnes of paper.

A Stora Enso spokesperson told PrintWeek that the Skåne region had experienced an “unprecedented and prolonged” period of hot dry weather.

“This has unfortunately resulted in extremely low water levels, reducing the flow of water in the river serving Nymölla, to a point where the flow is insufficient to allow us to maintain full production,” the spokesperson said.

“We have initiated a controlled temporary shutdown for parts of the Nymölla mill. At this point, we are not able to indicate how long the period of reduced production will last as the situation is very much weather-related. We are monitoring the situation closely and are doing everything we can to maximize the production with the available water flow. At this point, it is too early to estimate how much our production at Nymölla will be impacted."

Local media in the region reported that production at the mill had been halved.

Sweden has experienced its worst drought in 74 years, with wildfires raging across forests in the north of the country during July.  

Paper supply for parts of the commercial printing market has become increasingly squeezed over the past two years due to a number of factors including soaring global demand for pulp, mill closures, and paper machine conversions due to booming demand for cartonboard.