In a statement released today (12 April), the packaging and paper giant blamed weak paper demand and high input costs for the closure, which will reduce the site’s annual capacity from 435,000tpa to 185,000tpa.
Equivalent to a loss of €100m (£88m) to the group’s revenues, Stora Enso said it will start change negotiations concerning all employees at the integrated Anjalankoski site, which includes the Anjala paper unit and the Ingerois board unit.
The closure is set to take place during the fourth quarter of 2023 and affect an estimated 110 people. No decisions regarding the planned closure and employee reduction will be taken until the change negotiations have been concluded, the company stated.
Hannu Kasurinen, EVP of Stora Enso’s packaging materials division, explained the restructure: “The decline in newsprint and publication paper demand has further accelerated, and has also reached the previously more stable book paper market.
“Hence, to ensure the vitality of our book paper offering, we plan to focus all our efforts on the remaining Anjala production line and continue to serve our book paper customers with high-quality products.”
Stora Enso said the planned closure would not affect its operating profit. Deterioration in long-term demand had already seen the group record €19m written off as an item affecting comparability (IAC) in Q1 2023, with an overall expected cost of €16m as IACs in 2023.
The Anjala closure is only the latest action in Stora Enso’s vast restructuring programme, announced in Spring 2022, which has seen it sell three of its five paper production plants.
Only the Anjala and Belgian Langerbrugge plants were retained, with the German Maxau mill sold to Lidl owner Schwarz, Swedish Nymölla mill to US-based uncoated stock manufacturer Sylvamo, and Swedish newsprint mill Hylte to Sweden Timber.
Stora Enso has retained its packaging material production sites, and is due to complete a feasibility study for the conversion of its two Langersbrugge paper machines to recycled containerboard in mid-2023.
Stora Enso also acquired Dutch De Jong Packaging Group in January 2023, and has said it will invest approximately €1bn in its high-volume consumer board line at its Finnish Oulu site.
