The Board of the Finnish Forest Industries Federation re-elected Mr Jussi Pesonen, President and CEO of UPM-Kymmene, as its Chairman for the third year running. The Federation’s annual autumn meeting took place in Helsinki today, Monday.
Mr Pesonen emphasised the significance of the bioeconomy to Finland’s well-being – now and in the future. He pointed out that forest industry investments are growing. Strengthening the sector’s competitiveness and continued positive development requires actions from decision makers also.
“Three important themes stand out in forest industry lobbying, and the Finnish government plays a role in all. First of all, the government must hold on to its promise that industry’s costs will not be increased during this term. Cost pressures can be mitigated by quickly adopting Emissions Trading Scheme compensation in full”, Mr Pesonen said.
“Secondly, the labour market requires urgent reform. The government must reduce unit labour costs, if the central labour organisations fail to do so. The labour market expects the government to be consistent regarding all decisions related to working life,” Mr Pesonen said.
“Thirdly, wood raw material availability is an issue. No bioeconomy or renewable energy targets will be met if the wood markets do not grow,” he added.
