Stora Enso invests in pulp at its mills in Finland and Sweden

In a multi-million investment, Stora Enso is strengthening its focus on unbleached kraft pulp (UKP) and fluff pulp to support growing demand for non-bleached packaging and hygiene products. By increasing the share of UKP in its portfolio, Stora Enso is continuing a strategy to develop more specialised Nordic pulp grades while optimising its share in standard market pulp.

At Stora Enso’s Enocell mill in Finland, €38 million is being invested to enable the mill –currently with yearly capacity for 630,000 tonnes of softwood and hardwood pulp – to flexibly produce UKP and Nordic bleached softwood kraft (NBSK) pulp.

By using less bleaching chemicals, the carbon footprint per tonne of UKP will be more than 20 per cent lower than the equivalent amount of bleached pulp produced at the Enocell site. The investment is expected to be completed during the final quarter of 2024.

The second investment, of €42 million, is being made at Stora

Enso’s Skutskär mill in Sweden to reinforce the company’s position in Europe as the leading fluff pulp producer. Capacity for fluff, softwood and hardwood pulps is currently 545,000 tonnes a year. With the upgrades made at the mill, Stora Enso will be able to meet rising demand for specific roll sizes, improve safety, and grow fluff pulp production. The investment is expected to be completed during the second quarter of 2024.

“Through optimising our pulp portfolio, we advance the more specialised pulp offering, while also improving production and sustainability performance. This will allow us to meet the rapidly growing demand for using unbleached and less bleached pulp in packaging and hygiene applications,” says Johanna Hagelberg, executive vice president of the biomaterials division at Stora Enso.

●Stora Enso’s sales for 2022 were 14.9 per cent up year on year at €11.68 billion, while net profit was up 21.2 per cent at €1.54bn. In the final quarter of 2022, the sales