Stora Enso has decided to invest €1 billion to convert the remaining idle paper machine at the company’s Oulu site in Finland into a high-volume consumer board production line.
The investment supports the group’s growth strategy in renewable packaging by providing new volume for growing packaging segments. Production on the converted machine is estimated to start in early 2025.
Following the first machine conversion at the Oulu site in 2021 from paper to kraftliner, the remaining idle paper line will be converted into a highly flexible consumer board line for folding box board (FBB) and coated unbleached kraft (CUK).
The total annual capacity will be 750,000 tonnes of consumer board. The target end-use segments are food and beverage packaging, especially frozen and chilled, and dry and fast food, mainly in Europe and North America.
Stora Enso’s president and CEO Annica Bresky said, ‘Renewable packaging continues to be our largest strategic growth area. It’s also a market that is now, for the first time, growing faster than plastics-based alternatives. Through this conversion we can build on existing assets for quick and cost-effective time-to-market compared to other investment alternatives. This puts us in a strong position to drive revenue growth and build market share.’
The total investment will be approximately €1 billion during 2022 to 2025. At full capacity, the investment is expected to meet the profitability target of the Packaging Materials division: operational return on operating capital (ROOC) of 20%. Annual sales are expected to be approximately €800 million.
The investment will create approximately 300 new jobs at the Oulu site and an additional 1500 indirect employment opportunities overall. The wood consumption of the new line will be around one million cubic metres of pulp wood. After the investment, the group’s market pulp position will be reduced by approximately 250,000 tonnes annually.
