(UPM, Helsinki, 16 June, 2015 at 9:00 EET) - UPM will invest EUR 50 million in its Kaukas pulp mill in Lappeenranta, Finland, to further strengthen the mill’s efficiency, competitiveness and optimisation.

The investment will go towards modernising both pulp drying machines and installing a new baling line. Assembly will take place during a planned shutdown in autumn 2016 and start-up is scheduled for the end of 2016. The investment will benefit the entire Kaukas biorefining mill integrate through increased resource efficiency and operational flexibility.

“Over the past two years we have made focused investments improving the production efficiency of our Pietarsaari, Kymi and Fray Bentos pulp mills. When all the projects are completed, our pulp production capacity will have increased by 10% from 3.3 million tonnes since 2013. The Kaukas investment is yet another example of well-targeted good return investments,” says Anssi Klinga, Senior Vice President, UPM Pulp.

“Our biggest investment is the EUR 160 million expansion of the Kymi mill, which is proceeding well and will be completed in the autumn. The expansion will increase the mill’s production capacity by 170,000 tonnes of bleached softwood and hardwood pulp,” says Klinga.

These investments in the Kymi and Kaukas mills will complete UPM’s strategic decoupling of its pulp and paper businesses. This will enable higher efficiency and separate optimisation of pulp and paper production, while simultaneously maintaining internal synergies at the mills.

For more information, please contact:
Anssi Klinga, Senior Vice President, UPM Pulp Business, tel. +358 50 466 1470
Sami Saarela, Vice President, Finland Operations, UPM Pulp Business, tel. +358 50 360 6502
Teuvo Solismaa, General Manager, UPM Kaukas, tel. +358 40 7411 380

Press conference today in Lappeenranta
UPM will hold a press conference today at Kaukaan Kerho, address Kaukaankatu 26 , Lappeenranta, at 11:00 EET. The event will be hosted by Teuvo Solismaa, General Manager, UPM Kaukas. Contact: Antti Ratia, Communications Manager, UPM Kaukas, tel. +35840 487 2173.

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Notes to the editors 

UPM
UPM leads the reformation of the bio and forest industries. We are building a sustainable future in six business areas: UPM Biorefining, UPM Energy, UPM Raflatac, UPM Paper Asia, UPM Paper Europe and North America and UPM Plywood. Our products are made of renewable raw materials and are recyclable. We serve a global customer base. We employ approximately 20,000 people and our annual sales are approximately EUR 10 billion. UPM's shares are listed on NASDAQ OMX Helsinki. UPM – The Biofore Company – www.upm.com

UPM Pulp
UPM is one of the world’s leading producers of northern softwood, birch and eucalyptus pulp supplying global customers in many end-use segments such as tissue, specialty papers, board as well as printing and writing. Our own sales and technical service teams are located close to customers in Europe and China. We operate four modern pulp mills, three in Finland and one in Uruguay, as well as eucalyptus plantations in Uruguay. UPM Pulp employs approximately 1,500 people and its annual pulp production capacity is 3.5 million tonnes. The Pulp Business is part of the UPM Biorefining Business Area. To learn more, visit: www.upmpulp.com
  
UPM Kaukas
UPM Kaukas is an integrated modern mill producing sawn timber, bleached softwood and hardwood kraft pulp, coated magazine paper, renewable diesel and energy. With the R&D centre on site, UPM employs around 1,200 employees in Lappeenranta, Finland.
The Kaukas pulp mill employs 170 people and produces softwood and birch pulp with an annual capacity of 740,000 tonnes.