Finnish forest industry’s exports stumble

Weak economic growth will slow down exports of the Finnish forest industry. Nevertheless, investments on production capacity will increase export volumes of pulp, paper board, according to PTT’s forecast oft the Finnish forest sector. Exports will grow stronger next year. The production capacity of the largest business area according to export value, paper industry, will fall substantially both years. The production of paper in Finland will reduce this year 6–7 percent and 4–5 percent next year. The previously announced and recent machine closures, weak economic growth in Europe and replacement of paper by electronic communication devices will reduce exports during 2015. The output of paper board will increase in Finland this and next year as demand remains rather good and the production capacity is expected to grow, according to PTT, but weak economic situation in Russia will cause uncertainty for the paper board industry. At the same time export of finish pulp will increase this and next year. The market situation of softwood pulp still remains rather stable in the long term. As a result of the weakening of the euro the average export prices will rise this year 7–9 per cent, but will fall clearly next year.