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UPM inaugurates revamped Kymi pulp mill

18 Jan '16

3 min read

Having invested €160 million, UPM officially inaugurated its revamped Kymi pulp mill in Finland and thereby expanded production from 170,000 tons to 700,000 tons of bleached northern softwood and birch pulp annually.

“The investment supports the Finnish Government's target of establishing Finland as a pioneer in the bio-economy, circular economy and clean-tech solutions by 2025,” a UPM press release said.

"The construction of a competitive forest industry mill complex requires perseverance, and Kymi has maintained its competitiveness through operational efficiency and investments,” CEO Jussi Pesonen said.

“In the past ten years, UPM has invested approximately €550 million in the Kymi pulp mill and so far in the 21st century over €900 million in total in the Kymi mill region," Pesonen added.

The Kymi expansion project was completed safely and on schedule alongside ongoing pulp and paper production and the ramp-up of pulp production was faster than expected, enabling the mill to reach its targets.

“The entire Kymi pulp and paper mill integrate benefits from the improved energy efficiency and operational flexibility brought by the investment project,” the company too added.

The Kymi project was started in February 2014 and completed by the end of 2015, while the new debarking plant started operation in June and the modernised softwood fibre line was commissioned in August.

According to UPM, other improvements made last summer include the expansion of the wood yard and the introduction of a new railway and wagon-loading system.

It further added that the Kymi integrated pulp and paper mill complex is even more energy-efficient and flexible than ever before.

Its high energy efficiency and locally sourced wood reduce the carbon footprint of the mill's products, which already now is close to zero, while over 90 per cent of the energy produced at the Kymi mill is bioenergy.

UPM Kymi is an environmentally efficient mill integrate producing pulp, paper and energy and employs about 650 people and mainly produces bleached birch, softwood pulp as well as coated and uncoated fine paper.

UPM is one of the world's leading producers of northern softwood, birch and eucalyptus pulp supplying global customers in many end use segments such as tissue, specialty papers, board, and printing and writing papers. (AR)

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