Within their Kerto LVL and plywood section of business in Estonia and Finland, Metsa Wood has announced an investment project of €100 million. As they continue on a path to greater efficiency, the investment will be introduced in 2018 and will allow the company to reach their customer base as it continues to grow around the world. In all, half of the funds will reach Finland.

In the announced program, there are a number of steps that have been proposed with the first coming within the Pulp and Paperboard Industries’ mill in Aanekoski in the shape of a new birch veneer peeling and drying line. Then, veneer will be processed from the same location after a new plywood mill in Estonia. Currently, the company has a birch veneer line in their Suolahti mill and this will be relocated to Estonia which should increase production volume of birch plywood by 30,000 cubic metres each year.

Even after this, further investment will be made and two old lines will be replaced with newer technology in Lohja which will increase capacity by 20,000 cubic metres. Finally, a 60,000 cubic metre a year softwood based speciality product will be installed within the mill at Suolahti. With all of this in mind, 300,000 cubic metres is set to be added in terms of log consumption.

After reaching just under €200 million in turnover for 2015, Latvijas Finieris Group has announced an increase of turnover by 1%. According to the company, higher value product sales were the cause of the increase. Furthermore, there was more good news as their market share within the exports segment grew by 3%. With this latest update, it is proving to be a good year for Latvijas Finieris who have begun stage two of their Kohila Vineer Estonian project.