Environmental considerations are very much on the minds of not only Finnish but also the Swedish and Norwegian forest industries. A major development in this field is that Wood Focus in Finland, Swedish Wood and The Norwegian Sawmill Association have, together with the Nordic Timber Council (NTC), agreed on a joint environmental policy which is a commitment to sustainable development.

In view of this strong commitment to sustainable forestry, it is not surprising that the Finnish Forest Industries Federation (FFIF) reacted strongly in defence of the record of Finnish companies in Russia following a demonstration against illegal logging outside the Finnish Embassy in Moscow, organised by Greenpeace Russia, and a letter outlining failings in the use of forests in Russia, which was submitted to the Finnish ambassador at the same time. In addition, it was estimated in a report by the WWF in April that up to 35% of the timber harvested in north-western Russia is illegally logged and that about 75% of the Russian wood exported to Europe comes from that region.

Illegal logging

The FFIF points out that the Finnish forest industry takes a firm and proactive stance on illegal logging and that, as part of their environmental policies, Finnish companies procuring wood from Russia have developed effective monitoring systems to ascertain the origin of the wood. The methods employed have won recognition from international customers as well as the environmental movement.

Companies also engage in constructive co-operation with Russian environmental organisations. The FFIF says that as an international player, the Finnish forest industry’s prime concerns in its operations in Russia, as elsewhere, are to support wood procurement as provided for in national legislation and to respect the actions of local authorities.

On the economic front, despite continuing unfavourable international economic conditions, forest industry production as a whole in Finland rose by 1.3% for the period January-March compared with the previous year. Sawn softwood production in the first quarter totalled 3.4 million m3, up 2% compared with the same period the year before, while plywood production was 340,000m3 in the first quarter, as much as 18% higher than the previous year.

In the field of investments, UPM-Kymmene has purchased AS Forestex‘s and Stora Enso Timber AS’s holdings in the Estonian birch plywood mill AS FSS Plywood. The entire mill has been transferred into the ownership of UPM-Kymmene, which at the same time has sold its holding in AS Forestex to Stora Enso Timber AS. The mill located in Otepää, south-east Estonia, produces high-quality birch plywood for the construction, furniture and transport vehicle industries.

UPM-Kymmene has also established a company for wood procurement in the Baltic countries. The company, UPM-Kymmene Forest AS, will be responsible for the pulpwood and wood chip deliveries from and via the Baltic countries to UPM-Kymmene’s Finnish mills as well as birch log deliveries to the company’s Estonian plywood mill, FSS Plywood AS.

Stora Enso recently started production of its range of WoodHeart products at the company’s Honkalahti sawmill in eastern Finland. These products use the excellent stability and natural durability of the heartwood of Scots pine. To take full advantage of the heartwood content of Scots pine Stora Enso has installed state-of-the-art X-ray grading equipment at the Honkalahti mill. This equipment has been developed in conjunction with Finnish specialists in the field.

Chelsea Flower Show

Ending on an environmental note, for the first time Finnforest UK sponsored a garden at last month’s Chelsea Flower Show. The garden was designed to highlight the work of Shelter, the housing and homeless charity. Finnforest quite literally brought shelter to this year’s show, with a garden sanctuary on stilts that illustrated the importance of quality affordable housing. A raised wooden ‘A’ frame structure emphasised the link between the house and the garden, providing a low-cost architectural structure with space for the whole family.

By working with Shelter and the garden designers, Finnforest was able to realise a garden hideaway that was not only attractive and environmentally friendly, but also showcased the performance of the com-pany’s glulam and Thermowood products. The one-off wooden hideaway was sold by auction during the show with the proceeds going to Shelter.