UPM's President and CEO Jussi Pesonen comments on the ongoing year at Annual General Meeting: Demand recovering

UPM-Kymmene Corporation   Stock exchange release  22 March 2010  at 15:15       

UPM's President and CEO Jussi Pesonen comments on the ongoing year at Annual    
General Meeting: Demand recovering                                              

UPM's President and CEO Jussi Pesonen stated today in the company's Annual      
General Meeting that demand is recovering in UPM's main markets and signs of    
increased investment activity are emerging.                                     

"Chemical pulp market and prices have been stronger than anticipated. Demand for
pulp in China has been on a good level already for some time and the            
consequences of the natural catastrophe in Chile are further impacting the      
market situation."                                                              

"The prices for fine and speciality papers have increased due to good demand and
increased cost of pulp. However, the significant decline in newsprint and       
magazine grade prices materialised."                                            

"The stevedores' strike in Finland caused significant costs and loss of revenue,
the main impact of which will affect March and April 2010. The estimated direct 
daily costs will remain below EUR 3 million, as we were able to have part of our
production running throughout the strike. For example our pulp mills and        
speciality paper machines remained operating."                                  

Pesonen said in the Annual General Meeting that UPM is moving on to a new       
development phase. "Our productivity has undergone vital increase during the    
last five years. Our production units and operating processes are now efficient 
and modern. We cannot identify needs for major structural changes in the company
in the foreseeable future. Continuous improvement and cost efficiency continue  
to be part of our everyday operations but strategic initiatives and building on 
UPM's strengths will be clearly more our focus."                                

The CEO's presentation in the AGM is available at www.upm.com > Investor        
Relations.                                                                      

UPM-Kymmene Corporation                                                         
Pirkko Harrela                                                                  
Executive Vice President, Corporate Communications                              

UPM, Corporate Communications                                                   
Media Desk, tel. +358 40 588 3284                                               
communications@upm-kymmene.com                                                  

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