Finnish owned companies’ sawn timber and paper capacity soared last year with the help of several acquisitions.
The sawmilling capacity of Finnish firms rose to 19 million m2 in 2001, of which one-third is outside Finland. Finnish forest industry production decreased by 7% last year but the sector made a number of large investments, with domestic capital expenditure rising to Euro1.5bn.
Acquisitions last year included Finnforest‘s takeover of Norwegian company Moelven Industrier and Stora Enso‘s purchase of the Austrian minority owner’s holding in Stora Enso Timber.
