The permanent closure, which will take place tomorrow (6 November), follows the completion of employee consultation processes. Plans to shut down the machine were first announced in early September.

The redundancies affect 159 permanent and 20 temporary staff.

Following the closure, UPM's SC (supercalendered) paper production capacity will be reduced by 265,000 tonnes per year.

Production on the remaining two paper machines in Rauma will continue as normal.

UPM senior vice-president of news and retail Anu Ahola said: “The recent weeks have not been easy for us all.

“But in times of a continuously challenging market environment and an accentuated decline of demand for graphic papers, we have to secure the future competitiveness of UPM’s paper business and the remaining assets at the Rauma site.

“We have focused on finding socially acceptable solutions for the employees affected with the clear intention to diminish the impact of this closure. The consultation process was fair, open, and constructive at all times.”

This is UPM’s second paper machine closure this year. Paper machine 10 at the company’s Plattling mill in Bavaria ceased production in July.