Stora Enso has confirmed that the company started fully ramping down its Imatra and Oulu mills on Sunday due to ongoing political strikes that are hitting ports and transportation in Finland.
The company expects the mills to be fully closed by the beginning of Easter, a spokesperson told EUWID.
With this move Stora Enso reacts to the decision by the Finnish Transport Workers’ Union AKT to continue the political strikes until 1 April. The industrial action started on 11 March and led to a shutdown of Finnish ports.
This resulted in both a shortage of wood supply and space at finished goods warehouses at Finnish forestry and paper companies, according to reports.
Stora Enso already announced the shutdown of its Varkaus mill as well as paper production at the Anjalankoski site. However, board production at the Anjalankoski mill has continued, the spokesperson said.
The impact of the strikes on the Finnish paper and board industry has been severe so far, and the announced extension of the strikes will only exacerbate the situation.
Metsä Board has already announced the closure of its Finnish board mills, and other companies that had been able to continue production until now cannot exclude similar steps either.
