Timber technology firm Anaika Group Ltd Oy is to establish a glulam beam production facility at Stora Enso‘s Kemijärvi site after agreeing to buy part of the land.
The facility will be a “high quality engineering works and glulam beam operation” and will help Stora Enso find long-term solutions for employees made redundant through the mill closures in Kemijärvi.
Anaika said that the facility would provide 100 jobs plus “substantial indirect employment”, which Stora Enso said “provides a solution for about two-thirds of those directly affected by restructuring”.
“Stora Enso has, in co-operation with the Finnish government, tried to find solutions for Kemijärvi,” said chief executive officer Jouko Karvinen. “Today we can announce the first concrete steps. We hope all parties will support these efforts and further steps to come.”
Executive vice-president Aulis Ansaharju added that a long-term supply agreement with Anaika would ensure domestic supplies of chips to its Veitsiluoto and Oulu Mills as a by-product of the glulam production process.
“In 2007 we increased domestic sourcing by three million m³, adding €150m and 450 man-years of employment to the local economy,” said Mr Ansaharju. “We want to decrease the amount of wood imported and increase domestic sourcing.”
