The groups turnover for the three months to the end of September fell from 1.82bn (EUR2.61bn) this time last year to 1.7bn, while profit before extraordinary and non-recurring items was less than half of last years figure at 89m.

Sales of magazine papers fell, as did those of newsprint and fine and speciality papers.

President and chief executive Juha Niemel said UPM had offset the fall in paper prices by improving efficiency and making cost savings. The group has made more than a third of the planned 140m in savings to date.

Economic recovery seemed more likely in North America than in Europe, where there were still rather weak signals pointing to improving growth, he said.

UPM has also started to implement price increases for magazine papers in the UK and North America, although the fine paper market remains challenging.