Stora Enso’s new consumer-packaging paperboard line at the Oulu (Finland) site (above) has started production. The first customer deliveries are expected in the second quarter of 2025. The Oulu production site employs a total of approximately 650 people.

In 2022, Stora Enso decided to convert the remaining idle paper machine at the Oulu site into a highly flexible consumer-packaging board line for folding boxboard (FBB) and coated unbleached kraft (CUK), with an annual capacity of 750,000 tonnes. The project is being completed according to the original timeline and budget of approximately EUR 1 billion. The new packaging board line is expected to reach full capacity during 2027, at which point annual sales are anticipated to be approximately EUR 800 million.

Renewable packaging is Stora Enso’s largest growth segment. The investment supports the group’s strategy by further strengthening the customer offering in the growing FBB and CUK segments. The targeted segments are frozen, chilled and dry food, as well as beverage multi-packaging, primarily for customers in Europe and North America.

“The new line will be the most modern and cost-efficient in Europe. Through this investment, our Oulu unit will become Stora Enso’s largest production facility, an integrated mega-site, focusing on future packaging board grades and featuring a flexible production setup. This will strengthen profitability and competitiveness for our consumer board and containerboard offerings. It will also enable us to optimize production at our other sites to unlock further profitable growth, for example in liquid-packaging board at our Skoghall site in Sweden,” says Stora Enso President/CEO Hans Sohlström.