Metsä Board is planning to close down its wallpaper base machine PM3 and discontinue its loss-making wallpaper base manufacturing at the Kyro mill in Hämeenkyrö, Finland, as the company says in the press release received by Lesprom Network.
The demand for wallpaper base is decreasing globally, and Metsä Board is focusing on paperboard, meaning that wallpaper base production is not included in the company’s core business operations.
In 2015, sales from Kyro’s paper business operations totalled Euro 50 million, and the operating result was Euro -5 million.
In addition to the planned close down of the wallpaper base machine PM3, Metsä Board has a need to adjust and improve operations at the Kyro mill in order to increase its competitiveness.
Therefore the company will commence related statutory labour negotiations covering all employees at the mill. According to the plan, the estimated personnel effect is up to 100 employees. All in all approximately 250 employees currently work at the Kyro mill.
After implementing possible changes, the folding boxboard machine, with an annual capacity of 190,000 tonnes, will still continue operating at the Kyro mill. In addition, Hämeenkyrön Voima’s biopower plant, producing heat and electricity, is located in the mill area.
Metsä Board is a leading European producer of folding boxboards and white linerboards made from fresh forest fibres.
