Stora Enso has said its wood products division will “struggle” to record operating profits during 2008.
The company delivered the downbeat forecast in an update about its first-quarter performance.
It said the quarter’s operating profits were expected to be close to the level achieved in the fourth quarter of 2007, considerably lower than in the first quarter of 2007.
“This is due to the high costs of already purchased sawlogs, particularly relative to the weakening market in Europe as a consequence of excessive sawlog supplies due to recent storms in central Europe,” Stora Enso said.
Stora Enso is planning further curtailments of sawnwood production during the rest of 2008. It has already announced cutbacks in sawnwood and glulam post and beam production in Austria, the Baltic states and Finland.
