Amid the times of instability in the EU economy UPM-Kymmene Corporation, a Finnish pulp, paper and timber manufacturer, is considering a significant reduction of its production capacities.
It is planned that the majority of such reductions will affect the EU operations of the company, and in particular Finland, Germany and France, which are expected to be reduced by 580,000 tons.
The company plans to reduce its capacities for the production of magazine papers by 270,000 tons, while printing paper by 850 000 tonnes.
Overall, UPM plans to cut about 860 of its workers. As part of its plans, the paper-making machines at its Finnish and German factories (Rauma and Ettringen respectively) will be closed by the end of the first half of 2013. Both machines produce uncoated magazine paper with total capacity of 420,000 tonnes per year.
In addition, UPM plans to sell its French plant UPM Docelles, which produces 160,000 tons of uncoated paper annually.
It is expected that all of these measures will allow the company to reduce its fixed costs by 90 million euros per year, while non-recurring costs by almost EUR 100 million.
