Last April, Stora Enso announced a plan to permanently shut down one of its two paper machines and concentrate all book paper production on a single line at the integrated Anjalankoski site. A decision made because of weak paper demand and high production costs.
The line closure will reduce the site’s annual capacity by 250 thousand tons and sales by about 100 million. The closure will take place in the fourth quarter of 2023 and will affect 89 people, 50 of whom will be laid off. Most of these redundancies will be managed through pension arrangements.
«Although it is very unfortunate that redundancies are to be made, we are pleased that the number of employees affected is significantly lower than expected. Stora Enso will continue to take advantage of the synergies at the Anjalankoski site between paperboard and paper production and with the remaining paper machine so that the group can continue to produce its quality selection of book paper,» says Hannu Kasurinen, EVP of the Packaging Materials division.
The integrated Anjalankoski site falls under the Packaging Materials division from the beginning of 2023. The site includes the Ingerois packaging board production unit and the Anjala paper production unit, the latter previously reported in the now dissolved Paper division.