Jan. 14, 2009 - Botnia today said that it will permanently close its Kaskinen pulp mill in Finland in the first quarter of 2009.

The closure will affect 223 workers.

According to Botnia, the Kaskinen mill is the oldest of Botnia's mills and its profitability has deteriorated due increased production and raw material costs.

“The rapid decrease in the demand for pulp and lowered prices due the poor demand has made the situation even more severe and there are no prerequisites for profitable operations of the mill,” said Ilkka Hamala, president and CEO of Botnia.

“The mill is at the end of its technical life cycle. Continuing the operations would require significant investments that are not feasible in this situation," Hamala said

Botnia said it about 70 workers can be placed at other company locations or at the mill's integrated shared operations (M-real's BCMTP mill on the same site).

The Kaskinen mill has an annual production capacity of 450,000 tons of ECF and TCF bleached hardwood and softwood pulp on one line.

SOURCE: Botnia