UPM-Kymmene has begun cutting back production at its five birch plywood mills in Finland and announced plans to sell or close one of its birch face veneer and thin veneer plywood mills.
Layoffs at the main plywood mills were expected following the poor harvest of Russian birch. Weekend production runs will be reduced and winter holidays brought forward. However, layoffs are expected later in the autumn, ranging from one to three weeks.
UPM also plans to concentrate production of birch face veneer at its Lohja Veneer Mill while either selling or closing down the thin veneer plywood operations that run alongside veneer machines at the Keuruu Mill.
As well as the Keuruu and Lohja mills, UPM manufactures birch veneer at a mill in Russia. Keuruu accounts for about one-quarter of the total output of 20,000m3 .
