Stora Enso is to suspend production at the Veitsiluoto sawmill in Finland in August and will temporarily lay off all 56 staff members as the weak construction market continues.
Production at Stora Enso’s 200,000 cubic meters per year Veitsiluoto sawmill in Kemi, on the Gulf of Bothnia in northern Finland, is to be temporarily halted from the beginning of August, a spokesperson for the major Finnish forest products company told Fastmarkets earlier this month.
-
That’s a remarkable amount of work hours for a single machine, the Norcar 600 owned by Erkki Rinne is taken well care of, it even has the original Diesel engine.
-
Kieran Anders is a forestry contractor working in the lake district. His work involves hand cutting and extracting timber using a skidder and tractor-trailer forwarder.
-
It is not possible to eliminate chain shot, but there are simple steps that can be taken to reduce the risk.
-
Arwel takes great pride in the fact that the mill has no waste whatsoever, “the peelings are used for children’s playgrounds, gardens and for farm animals in barns in the winter and the sawdust has multiple uses in gardens and farms as well.
-
Timber hauliers need to encourage young blood in, and also look after the hauliers we have, we need make the sector a safe and positive place to work.
FIND US ON
The company said the mill would resume operation at the start of October, but all 56 employees will be laid off during the suspension. Stora Enso said the decision was based on “challenging market conditions, low consumer confidence, geopolitical uncertainty and high wood costs.”
The layoffs are based on negotiations conducted in late 2025, which covered the possibility of up to 90 days of temporary layoffs in 2026.
Stora Enso said customers would continue to be served by its other sawmills during the shutdown.
While Stora Enso is conducting a strategic review of its Central European sawmills, the Veitsiluoto mill is part of its Nordic operations, which Stora said remain “strategically important.”
Finnish sawlog prices continue to increase in May
Average prices of softwood sawlogs rose in Finland in May, reaching €77.28 per cubic meter for standing pine sales and €82.86 per cubic meter for spruce, according to statistics from the Natural Resources Institute Finland (Luke). The average pine sawlog price increased by 1.6% month on month, while the average spruce sawlog price increased by 1.9%.
From the recent low in January, the average pine sawlog price in May was up by 5.6%, and the spruce sawlog price was up by 7.3%. Compared with the highs in June 2025, pine is still 8.0% below, and spruce is 3.4% below.
Market outlook
Some contacts have noted an acknowledgement that the market has “moved away from the peak of pricing,” with several sources saying they are beginning to feel the push for lower prices. A shift that is now showing up in June deals and early third-quarter discussions.
While seasonal slowdowns are starting to appear in several markets, particularly in the Netherlands, where a well-established summer building pause is now under way, there are concerns that this will compound demand weakness already in place rather than represent a temporary and recoverable dip.
Talks about the fourth quarter sparked greater optimism among contacts, with some expecting conditions to improve as the year closes out.
Any meaningful recovery remains conditional, however. One contact summarised their caution, stating “housing starts would need to show genuine signs of life, consumer confidence would need to improve, and the full economic effects of the war in the Middle East have yet to be fully absorbed.”
As another source noted, the market would have needed an increase in demand to shift the current dynamic. Whether that increase arrives before the year is out remains, for now, an open question.
Contact forestmachinemagazine@mail.com to showcase your products and services on the world’s largest online news network for the professional forestry industry.
#homeoflogging #writtenbyloggersforloggers #loggingallovertheworld
Written by loggers for loggers and dedicated solely to forestry equipment.