Mar 03, 2008. /Lesprom.com/. Myllykoski announced that it has agreed to establish a joint venture company with Powerflute Oyj. The new entity will manage wood procurement for Myllykoski’s Finnish mills and Powerflute’s Savon Sellu mill. The joint venture will manage wood procurement for Myllykoski’s Finnish mills and Powerflute’s Savon Sellu mill. The combined demand for fibre wood from Myllykoski’s Finnish mills and Powerflute will be approximately 2.5 million cubic metres per year. The new joint venture will ensure continuity of supply for both parent companies’ mills in Finland. The new entity will procure wood principally from Finland but will also import wood. Subject to certain regulatory approvals, the parties expect the joint venture to be up and running in the course of the summer of 2008. Myllykoski and Powerflute have proactively chosen to establish the joint venture due to current changes in the forestry environment. Wood is a vital and strategically important raw material for both companies and the new company will enable them to tighten control of their wood procurement arrangements and to secure supply. Myllykoski Corporation's President and CEO Sverre Norrgard says: “A joint procurement venture is a natural and cost-effective alternative in the Finnish forestry. The needs of Myllykoski and Powerflute for wood complement each other. Myllykoski Paper uses fresh spruce wood as its raw material, while the Sunila pulp mill uses pine pulpwood and sawmill chips. Powerflute’s Savon Sellu, on the other hand, uses birch wood as its sole wood raw material. We also believe that a new reliable organisation brings a new dynamic to the wood market which will be beneficial to forest owners and should encourage domestic harvesting.” Myllykoski is an international paper group with manufacturing in Finland, Germany, Switzerland and the United States and sales offices around the world. The Group's products consist of wood-containing uncoated and coated publication papers, including newsprint. Powerflute is a holding company and, through its wholly-owned subsidiary Savon Sellu Oy, operates a 300 thousand tonne per annum rated capacity paper mill.