Nordic Forest Industries: Time For Improvement!

摘要

The closures havecontin-ued in the Finnish and Scandinavian pulp and paper industries. In Finland, over the last two years, some 2 million tonnes per year (tpy) of paper and board and 0.5 million tpy of chemical pulp has disappeared or is disappearing. This is a reflection of the loss in competitiveness of Nordic industries. There are several reasons for this lack of competitiveness, such as high energy and wood costs, labour issues, as well being a long distance from the markets. Also, the mills and machines are now small compared to world leading mills. This article discusses what the current situation is, and what should be done in order to improve the longer-term competitiveness of the Nordic forest industry.