UPM Kymmene expects 2012 to be another difficult economic year, but it is still moving ahead with significant corporate and market developments.
In June our further processed products business was separated out of UPM Timber as UPM Living and the latter subsequently launched a major marketing campaign for its range in Finland. Now this will be rolled out to the UK.
Part of this process will be the rebranding and re-categorisation of UPM Living products into three areas. Home comprises interior products for home décor, such as interior panels and flooring; Garden is terrace materials and products for garden buildings; while House brings together exterior products, such as UPM Façade, our exterior pre-finished cladding. New colours are also being added to some interior product ranges, reflecting latest design trends and giving end users more scope for innovative interior décor schemes.
UPM will also continue to stress environmental credentials, not only meeting, but exceeding forest management requirements, both in our own forests and those from which we source externally. UPM gets up to a fifth of its raw material from the former, with the balance from a range of suppliers. We maintain close, long-term relations with suppliers so we can be confident in the integrity of supply and work together to ensure best practices.
Our commitment to environmental responsibility can been seen in our global biodiversity programmes for sustaining and regenerating flora and fauna species, such as the successful project to increase black grouse numbers in our UK forests.
We also use 100% of the logs we extract. The best are used for timber and plywood, other smaller and lower quality logs for pulp, and bark, chips and stumps for energy generation. UPM is Finland’s second largest electricity producer, and is not only self-sufficient for a large part of its own energy, but also provides electricity for local communities.
2012 will also see UPM building its relatively new biofuels business. Additionally we will continue to spread our geographic net, with growth expected in China and India and increased volumes going to Japan as post-tsunami reconstruction accelerates.
But we are also expecting growth in the more ‘mature’ UK market, with the new UPM Living branding helping boost sales of further processed products. Work is also ongoing to develop new products and introduce “innovative updates” to the existing range.
