Metsä's Joutseno pulp mill is undergoing a market-related downtime. In parallel, the company will reconstruct the roof of the mill's bailing plant building.
Towards the end of August, Metsä Fibre had completed the negotiations on temporary layoffs of 190 employees at the company's Joutseno NBSK pulp mill in Finland. Now, the company has stopped production in order to "adapt to the current market situation."
The company did not provide detailed information on the duration of the commercial shutdown at the Joutseno mill. Under the agreement with employee representatives consluced in late August, it can lay off the employees by up to 90 days in the period between September and January
The company will benefit from the temporary production downtime to repair the roof of the mill's bailing plant building which is said to be in risk of collapsing.
"The mill's baling plant building has been placed under a temporary operating ban [on 19 Septmebr] due to the potential risk of collapse detected in the roof structures," the company said. The dismantling of the roof structures and ensuring safe work conditions is estimated to take two months but the company will provide a more detailed schedule once the project plan has been be drawn up, it said.
The Joutseno pulp mill in Lappeenranta has a production capacity of 690,000 tpy. Besides softwood pulp the mill also produces biochemicals and supplies surplus electricity to the grid.
