Swedish sawmiller talks of market “unease” over UK’s Brexit

18 July 2016


One of the UK’s major suppliers of Swedish construction softwood says the UK’s decision to leave the UK creates “unease and uncertainty” in the short-term.

Setra has 12 mills in Sweden and counts the UK as one of its largest customers.

“The effects of the UK’s decision to leave the EU are difficult to assess,” said Hannele Arvonen, president and CEO of Setra.

“The UK is one of our largest export markets and in the short term this creates unease and uncertainty,” she said.

Setra has released a strong set of first half financial results, which show an operating profit of SKr76m (2015: SKr88m) and sales of SKr2.18bn (2015: SKr2.27bn).

“The market for wood products continued to develop in a positive direction during the second quarter,” said Ms Arvonen. “We can see a significantly better balance in the market, particularly for whitewood products.

“We do not expect a marked strengthening of the market in the months ahead,” she added.

Setra’s subsidiary within industrial-scale construction of wooden buildings, Setra Plusshus, was sold and these operations were transferred to Derome on June 1, 2016.

Also in June, an agreement was signed with the Profura Group to take over its planing operations in Valbo.