Final decision for the planned 800,000 tpy folding boxboard mill will be made in 2024 earliest.
Following its announcement to explore the possibilities to increase folding boxboard capacity in Finland or Sweden Metsä Board now decided to start pre-engineering for a new folding boxboard mill at its Kaskinen site in Finland. Pre-engineering includes technical design, design of infrastructure, logistic solutions and tendering for the main equipment. Metsä Board estimates that a possible investment decision could be made in 2024 at the earliest.
The new mill would have an annual capacity of about 800,000 tpy of foldind boxboard. Consumption of raw materials, energy and water per tonne of board would be significantly lower when compared to the existing mills, Metsä Board explains, and pre-engineering for the new mill is based on fossil-free production. It is the company's ambition to build the most resource-efficient and competitive board mill that enables carbon footprint reduction.
Metsä Board sees demand for packaging made from renewable raw materials and replacing plastic to grow further. In an earlier statement, the company said that global demand for fresh-fibre board has been growing by 2-3 per cent per year and is expected to grow at the same rate in the future.
The company has already an ongoing expansion project at its Husum integrated mill in Sweden that will increase the company's folding boxboard capacity by approximately 200,000 tpy. The project is expected to be completed in the second half of 2023 and additional final capacity is expected to be reached by the end of 2025. At present the plant is able to manufacture up to 400,000 tpy of folding boxboard, 250,000 tpy of white-top kraftliner and 730,000 tpy of bleached kraft pulp.
