UPM has announced a date for the permanent closure of its Ettringen publication paper mill in Germany. The company says it will discontinue production at the site on 31 December. The employee consultation process has been completed now, UPM says, adding that the closing impacts 189 employees.
The Ettringen mill runs one paper machine with a capacity of 270,000 tpy of uncoated publication paper. The mill focuses on SC paper production, but also produces newsprint and improved newsprint.
UPM had announced its intention to shut down the Ettringen mill in March this year, saying it had to align its paper capacity with customer demand. Originally, the closure was expected for July 2025 and was supposed to affect 235 employees. However, the company an demployee representatives failed to reach an agreement regarding a reconciliation of interests and a social plan by that time. Now that negotiations are completed, UPM can proceed with the planned closure of the site.
"The negotiations were conducted within the framework of arbitration proceedings, which, as a neutral authority, supported to facilitate constructive dialogue between the employee representatives and the company," said Eva Kriegbaum, General Manager of UPM Paper Mills in Germany. "We focused on finding socially acceptable solutions for the employees affected, with the clear intention of mitigating the impact of this closure."
