Metsäliitto has concluded labour negotiations resulting in employees being temporarily laid off at all of its sawmills for two to four weeks.
The layoffs will be carried out as an extension to summer holidays and where necessary will continue in the autumn according to the market situation. In total, the temporary layoffs will last a maximum of 90 days.
In addition, Metsäliitto Wood Products Industry’s Kaskinen upgrading unit will terminate 20 jobs. The reduction is due to the transfer of contract manufacturing of consumer products intended for the UK’s DIY market from Kaskinen to the UK, cost saving measures, as well as the organisation’s resizing to meet the production volumes.
Metsäliitto said the moves were due to the weak market for sawn timber and the poor availability of competitively priced wood raw material.
“For a long time, we have adjusted production at all of our sawmills according to the market situation. Timber with competitive prices in comparison to end-product market prices has not been sufficiently available, which means that we have to curtail our production,” said Ole Salvén, group executive vice-president of Metsäliitto Wood Products Industry.
“Metsäliitto Wood Supply has been very active in purchasing log timber, and our market share has been high, but the volume of timber trade has not been sufficient. It’s important that the timber trade picks up during the summer so that production at sawmills can be launched in the autumn,” emphasised Juha Mäntylä, group executive vice-president of Metsäliitto Wood Supply.
The statutory labour negotiations, which ended on 17 June, concerned a total of 380 people.
