Sales in 2016 were €1.59bn, down 0.5% from the previous year, while Q4 sales were stable at €395m as slightly lower prices were offset by increased sales from strategic investments such as the new production line for wooden building components (laminated veneer lumber, LVL) at Varkaus Mill in Finland and Muro´w sawmill modernisation in Poland.
Deliveries totalled 4.64 million m3 in 2016, a 7.1% increase compared to 2015. The Varkaus LVL facility is ramping up and production optimisation is ongoing. Full production is expected in mid-2018. Over 70% of the products obtained certificates during the fourth quarter, and the remaining certificates are expected during the first quarter of 2017.
The feasibility study for building a cross-laminated timber (CLT) production unit at Gruvo¨n Mill in Sweden will be finalised during the spring.
In January 2017, Stora Enso announced that it will invest €12m to build a new production line manufacturing biocomposite granules with an annual capacity of approximately 15,000 tonnes at Hylte Mill in Sweden. Production is scheduled to begin during the first quarter of 2018.
