The proposed closure of the Swedish mill was announced in April alongside that of the giant Veitsiluoto mill in Finland, with its closure agreed last month. 

The closures mean Stora Enso will take out more than a third of its total paper capacity involving more than one million tonnes of paper production. 

Kvarnsveden has an annual capacity of 565,000 tonnes and runs two paper machines making supercalendered magazine papers and improved newsprint. 

It also has an integrated softwood thermomechanical pulp (TMP) mill with a 900,000 tonne capacity.

In a statement, Stora Enso said: “As a result of the co-determination negotiations regarding the Kvarnsveden site, pulp and paper production will be closed permanently by the end of the third quarter of 2021.

“The customer service centre located at Kvarnsveden will be closed down by the end of 2021. Power plant will continue to operate, however only for the purpose of district heating and for maintaining buildings onsite.”

The group is working on possible future alternative uses for the site with regional and national bodies. 

Some 440 jobs are affected and Stora Enso said negotiations would begin shortly on redundancies and related issues, now that the Kvarnsveden closure had been confirmed. 

550 jobs are going at Veitsiluoto.

Stora Enso continues to produce supercalendered papers at Langerbrugge in Belgium and Maxau in Germany, while improved newsprint is made at Anjala in Finland and Sachsen in Germany – although the Sachsen mill has been sold and will cease newsprint supply at the end of next year. 

The closure of Kvarnsveden and resulting reduction in supply options for certain grades and reel sizes is believed to have influenced Associated Newspapers' review of its supplement printing contract.