In 2022, Stora Enso decided to convert the remaining idle paper machine at the site into a highly flexible consumer packaging board line for folding box board (FBB) and coated unbleached kraft (CUK), with an annual capacity of 750,000 tonnes.
The project is being completed according to the original timeline and budget of around €1bn (£841m), according to the business.
The new packaging board line is expected to reach EBITDA breakeven by the year-end 2025 and full capacity during 2027, at which point annual sales are anticipated to be approximately €800m.
Renewable packaging is Stora Enso’s largest growth segment. The investment supports the group’s strategy by further strengthening the customer offering in the growing FBB and CUK segments.
The targeted segments are frozen, chilled, and dry food, as well as beverage multi-packaging, primarily for customers in Europe and North America.
Stora Enso president and CEO Hans Sohlström said: “The new line will be the most modern and cost-efficient in Europe. Through this investment, our Oulu unit will become Stora Enso’s largest production facility, an integrated mega-site, focusing on future packaging board grades and featuring a flexible production setup.
“This will strengthen profitability and competitiveness for our consumer board and containerboard offerings. It will also enable us to optimise production at our other sites to unlock further profitable growth, for example in liquid packaging board at our Skoghall site in Sweden.”
Following this investment and the earlier conversion completed in 2021, the Oulu site will produce unbleached pulp, kraftliner, and consumer board in both reels and sheets. The Oulu production site employs around 650 people.
Wood consumption at the site will increase by around one million cubic metres to approximately 3.5 million cubic metres per year.
The site will use local wood supply in production as well as pulp from Stora Enso’s Enocell site in Finland and Veracel site in Brazil.
Stora Enso’s recently announced acquisition of the Junnikkala sawmills in Finland, meanwhile, would further strengthen cost-efficient, long-term supply of raw materials such as wood chips, pulpwood, and biomass.
