Stora Enso's outgoing CEO says future is in pulp, paperboard for packaging, bio-materials and wooden building products, admits that closing Kemijärvi pulp mill in Finland might have a mistake, but decision to sell North American mills was wise
Debra Garcia
May 2, 2014 (Esmerk News Feed) – Finnish-Swedish forest industry company Stora Enso's CEO Jouko Karvinen, who is leaving the company, hopes that this successor can focus on making profitable business grow. Karvinen admits that Stora Enso's decision to close the Kemijärvi pulp mill in Finland in 2008 may have been a mistake. On the other hand, at the time the decision was made, it was impossible to know how Finland's wood market or the demand for softwood pulp would develop. One of his best decisions was the one to sell the North American mills in 2007, Karvinen says. The North American company would have become such a burden to Stota Enso that the company could not have made many of the important investments of recent years. According to Karvinen, the future is in packaging boards, biomaterials, pulp, and in wooden building products.
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