Helsinki, Finland 14 May 2013 -- Stora Enso plans to reduce production capacity at its coating and laminating plant in Forshaga, Sweden, in order to adapt to the current market situation. The Helsinki-based company said that demand and order situation had changed since late 2012 when one of its major customers installed its own coating unit and that it had not been able to find any customers for the newly available capacity so far.

At the Forshaga site, Stora Enso runs two laminators with an installed capacity of 140,000 tpy and employs 97 people. Currently, Forshaga is producing a total of 115,000 tpy of barrier coated and laminated board for liquid packaging and dry foodstuffs.  After the market-related capacity adjustment, however, the facility would only produce 85,000 tpy, a company spokesman said. The measure, which is still being negotiated with employee representatives, would affect up to 22 employees.

The Forshaga plant is processing board from the nearby Skoghall mill as well as from other Stora Enso sites, such as Fors, Ingerois and Imatra. According to the company, the capacity reduction in Forshaga would not have an impact on production at the Skoghall, where Stora Enso operates two board machines with a capacity of 750,000 tpy of liquid packaging board (LPB) and coated kraft back board (CKB).