Cornerstone laid at Kuopio mill

From left: Markus Gärtner, CEO Corrugated Packaging Mondi Group; Elsi Katainen Member of The European Parliament; Juha Koukka MD Mondi Powerflute Oy; Jarmo Pirhonen Mayor of Kuopio; Andrew King, Mondi Group CEO. Photo: Mondi

Mondi, a global leader in sustainable packaging and paper, continues to make progress on its previously announced €125 million investment to expand and upgrade its Kuopio mill in Finland with expected start-up by the fourth quarter of 2023.

This morning, regional and local officials joined Mondi’s Group CEO and other senior leaders at a ground-breaking ceremony to celebrate this major upgrade of the semi-chemical fluting mill.

« Thanks to the best technology available, production capacity will increase by 55,000 tonnes per annum and product quality will be enhanced to better serve growing customer demand. The long-term sustainability of the mill will also be considerably improved, further consolidating its place in the community », said Andrew King, Mondi Group CEO.

« We are delighted with the investment in the future of this competitive and cost-advantaged asset. Over 18% of Finland’s exports come from the forestry and paper industry, and we are proud to be a growing part of that. Our site provides jobs for 240 people – value-added jobs involving a wide range of skills and with the potential for upward mobility », said Juha Koukka, Managing Director of Mondi Kuopio.

 The investment in Kuopio further improves Mondi’s local environmental performance and contributes to the Group’s ambitious plans to take action on climate as part of its MAP2030 sustainability commitments. The state-of-the-art equipment and process improvements will reduce noise and odour emissions as well as effluent emissions per unit of production. It will also mitigate wood loss in processing, boost energy efficiency and enhance occupational safety.