Stora Enso Timber has opened its new €3.6m planing mill and expanded log sorting line for strength graded wood products at Paikuse Sawmill in Estonia.
The products are targeted at the industrial building sector in Europe and overseas and the focus will be on the higher strength grades needed by sectors such as the roof truss industry.
Further processing of production is now under way at the site, with around 40% of products being value-added.
Stora Enso Timber’s production volume in Estonia during the first nine months of 2005 was 569,915m3 of sawn wood products. The production of further processed products such as planed, finger-jointed, components and beams, during the same period was 164,376m3.
Seppo Vainio, vice-president of the company’s Baltic production group, said: “While our production volumes had remained the same in basic sawn goods, the further processing has increased by more than 30% compared to the previous year.”
The log sorting line was expanded by 20 log pockets to ensure the required length-sorting capacity and the planing mill is operated as an integrated part of the Paikuse sawmill. It began operations in July and is now running at full capacity of 80,000m3.
