Metsä Board Corporation, part of Metsä Group, is introducing the final steps of transformation to a paperboard company and invests approximately EUR 170 million in a new folding boxboard machine at its Husum mill in Sweden. The production capacity of the new machine is approximately 400,000 tonnes per annum and it will start up in early 2016. Full production capacity is expected to be reached by the end of 2016. Husum mill’s paper production is planned to be discontinued mostly at the end of 2015 and fully by the end of 2017.
The Husum mill currently has the capacity to produce 470,000 tonnes per year of uncoated paper; 340,000 tpy of coated paper; and 750,000 tpy of bleached kraft pulp.
These measures in Husum, including also the increasing fresh forest fibre linerboard sales volumes, are expected to improve Metsä Board’s operating result by approximately EUR 50 million per annum mostly in 2017 and fully from 2018 onwards compared to 1-3Q 2014 annualized performance.
Metsä Board is also planning new measures to eliminate losses of its Gohrsmühle mill in Germany. The primary target is to divest the mill during the first half of 2015. If the divestment does not materialize in the set time frame, Metsä Board will introduce other measures to eliminate the unit’s heavy losses. Gohrsmühle mill has approximately 480 employees and its main products are cast coated and label papers. The mill’s annual sales amount to approximately EUR 85 million and annualized operating loss to EUR 20 million based on the 1-3Q 2014 performance.
