Metsä Board Corporation Stock Exchange Release 5 November 2015 at 9.30 am EET
Metsä Board, part of Metsä Group, is investing EUR 38 million in an extrusion coating line and related infrastructure at its Husum mill in Sweden. The line with a paperboard extrusion coating capacity of approximately 100,000 t/a will be taken into use at the beginning of 2017.
As previously announced, the company is currently installing a folding boxboard machine with a capacity of 400,000 t/a targeted to start up in January 2016 in Husum. Metsä Board is marketing this new volume to the Americas as well as to food service end-uses such as cups, plates and trays globally. A substantial amount of food and food service packaging requires barrier properties against e.g. moisture and grease, and they can be produced with extrusion coating.
“Extrusion-coated paperboard based on renewable fresh forest fibre competes on many occasions with plastics. Transferring to paperboard offers food service companies an opportunity to improve their responsibility. As our paperboards are lightweight and stiff, they also bring many additional benefits to e.g. logistics and converting,” says Mika Joukio, CEO of Metsä Board.
In 2015–2016, Metsä Board’s paperboards are coated by external converters. The company is also continuing development work on other barrier solutions.
METSÄ BOARD CORPORATION
More information:
Markus Holm, CFO, tel. +358 10 465 4913
Katri Sundström, VP, Investor Relations, tel. +358 400 976 333
www.metsaboard.com
Metsä Board is a leading European producer of folding boxboards and white linerboards made from fresh forest fibres, and a market pulp supplier. Its lightweight paperboards are developed as the perfect fit for consumer goods, retail-ready and food service packaging. The pure fresh forest fibres Metsä Board uses are a renewable resource, traceable to origin in northern forests and recyclable after use.
The global sales network of Metsä Board supports customers worldwide, including brand owners, converters and merchants. In 2014, the company’s sales totalled EUR 2.0 billion, and it has approximately 2,600 employees. Metsä Board, part of Metsä Group, is listed on the NASDAQ OMX Helsinki.