(UPM Plywood, Lahti, Finland, 12 November 2015 at 09:00 EET) - UPM Plywood plans to adjust the production of its Pellos softwood plywood mills in Ristiina, Mikkeli, Finland due to increased imports of low-priced softwood plywood to Europe. The company starts labour negotiations on short-term lay-offs at all of the three Pellos plywood mills.
"Large amounts of low-priced plywood is currently flowing to Europe as imports especially from South America. Despite the good demand, we have lost market share. Our competitors in the low-cost countries are gaining competitive advantage also from their weaker home currencies," says Mika Sillanpää, Executive Vice President of UPM Plywood.
The labour negotiations on lay-offs at Pellos mills start immediately and are aimed to be completed before Christmas. The negotiations cover all of the mills' personnel, about 580 employees. The personnel of the mills' power plant are outside the scope of the negotiations.
For more information, please contact:
Mika Kekki, Vice President, Production & Operations, UPM Plywood, tel. +358 40 545 5803
Tommi Takanen, Mill Director, UPM Pellos mills, tel. +358 40 507 8468
UPM Plywood, Stakeholder Relations
tel. +358 204 151 13
Mon.-Fri. 09:00-16:00 EET
communications.ply@upm.com
UPM Pellos plywood mills manufacture uncoated and coated spruce plywood and twin mixed plywood mainly for various construction end-uses. Pellos mills' combined production capacity is 480 000 m3/a and the mills employ about 600 persons.
UPM Plywood manufactures high-quality WISA® plywood and veneer products mainly for construction and transport industries and the new thermo-formable UPM Grada® wood material for the form pressing industry. The sales of UPM Plywood in 2014 were EUR 440 million and it has about 2,400 employees. UPM Plywood has six plywood mills and a veneer mill in Finland, and plywood mills in Russia and Estonia. - www.wisaplywood.com, www.upmgrada.com
UPM
Through the renewing of the bio and forest industries, UPM is building a sustainable future across six business areas: UPM Biorefining, UPM Energy, UPM Raflatac, UPM Paper Asia, UPM Paper Europe and North America and UPM Plywood. Our products are made of renewable raw materials and are recyclable. We serve our customers worldwide. The group employs around 20,000 people and its annual sales are approximately EUR 10 billion. UPM shares are listed on NASDAQ OMX Helsinki. UPM - The Biofore Company - www.upm.com