The north Finnish town of Kemijärvi is the likely location of a new pulp mill project in Scandinavia: By 2020, the biorefinery might well consume 2.2 million sm³ of softwood logs a year. As several Finnish media report, the total investment will amount to 700-800 million. The facility will manufacture products for the textile industry, the energy sector and for the animal feed industry.
At the site in Kemijärvi, production lines for solid wood processing are currently being built. Keitele Timber and Tuovinen invest 30 million in a sawmill and a laminated timber plant.
Investors are still unknown, rumor has it, though, that it could be a consortium. The project was presented by the Ministry of Economic Affairs which would also subsidize the project. The approximately 1,000 jobs would be very welcome in structurally weak Lapland. According to research conducted by broadcasting company Yle, the largest Finnish wood processing company Stora Enso is not involved in the project. The listed group had been operating a pulp mill in Kemijärvi which was closed in 2008 because of shortage of wood. The project has been on for one and a half years.
The final investment decision is expected to be made in four or five months. Possible start-up is planned to occur before 2020.
At the site in Kemijärvi, production lines for solid wood processing are currently being built. Keitele Timber and Tuovinen invest 30 million in a sawmill and a laminated timber plant.
Investors are still unknown, rumor has it, though, that it could be a consortium. The project was presented by the Ministry of Economic Affairs which would also subsidize the project. The approximately 1,000 jobs would be very welcome in structurally weak Lapland. According to research conducted by broadcasting company Yle, the largest Finnish wood processing company Stora Enso is not involved in the project. The listed group had been operating a pulp mill in Kemijärvi which was closed in 2008 because of shortage of wood. The project has been on for one and a half years.
The final investment decision is expected to be made in four or five months. Possible start-up is planned to occur before 2020.
Latest investments in pulp mills or biorefineries in Scandinavia: © Hannes Plackner/Holzkurier
1. biofuel in Tofte (Södra)
2. pulp mill Värö (Södra)
3. pulp mill Morrum (Södra)
4. biorefinery Kemijärvi (Investor unknown)
5. biorefinery Äänekoski (Metsä)
6. pulp mill Kuopio (Finnpulp)
7. biodiesel production in Lappeenranta (UPM)
Planned investments amount to €4bn
Thus, the pulp investment boom in Scandinavia continues. Within a few months, four major projects have been announced:
• Earlier this year, UPM has started up a biodiesel production on the basis of wood in Lappeenranta for €175 million
• Södra invests €525 million in its Swedish pulp mills Värö and Morrum, also the Norwegian pulp mill Tofte is currently being converted into a biofuel plant
• The Metsä-Group intends to spend €1.1 billion on a biorefinery in Äänekoski
• Finnpulp intends to build a pulp mill in Kuopio for € 1.4 billion
• The recently announced project in Kemijärvi would cost €700-800 million
Behind the Finnish projects, however, there is still a question mark. The final investment decision has not been made in any of these case. The most concrete plans exist in Äänekoski where the Metsä Group has already identified likely outfitters.
