60 percent of Finland's paper industry sitting idle

The majority of Finland's paper manufacturing capacity has had to be shut down because of the stevedore strike. Stora Enso has closed more than half of its paper production in Finland, and UPM has stopped 15 of its 19 paper machines in the country.

“The latest announcements of production shut-downs mean that well over half of all paper production capacity in Finland has had to be put on hold. The situation is becoming increasingly difficult day after day, and the entire forest industry will soon be paralysed. There are now more forest industry employees out of work because of this industrial action than there are striking stevedores,” says Timo Jaatinen, Director General of the Finnish Forest Industries Federation.

Jouko Karvinen, CEO of Stora Enso, said in an interview with Bloomberg News Wednesday that the stevedore strike can cause the Finnish paper industry irrevocable damage. The time to find a solution to the conflict is today, not in a month, according to Karvinen.

Stora Enso stopped one more paper machine Wednesday, a board machine at Imatra mill.