BillerudKorsnäs and Viken Skog to Explore Pulp Production Partnership in Norway

Viken Skog's Follum mill already has much of the infrastructure needed to establish a BCTMP production line and is located in an area with competitive and sustainable wood supply and good transports to BillerudKorsnäs' board mills.

March 3, 2022 - BillerudKorsnäs and the Norwegian forest owner group Viken Skog are forming a joint venture to explore the possibilities of working together to establish production of bleached chemi-thermomechanical pulp (BCTMP) at Viken Skog's Follum mill in Hønefoss, Norway.

BillerudKorsnäs and Viken Skog plan to initiate a feasibility study, which will be completed during the first half of 2023. The intention is to establish a state-of-the-art production line for BCTMP at the Follum mill with a capacity assumption of up to 200,000 tonnes per year.

The Follum mill already has much of the infrastructure needed to establish such a production line and is located in an area with competitive and sustainable wood supply and good transports to BillerudKorsnäs' board mills.

If the project will proceed after the feasibility study is completed, the investment for BillerudKorsnäs is estimated to be in the range of 600-800 MNOK.

"This initiative forms part of BillerudKorsnäs' strategy for sustainable and profitable growth and supports our ambition to grow in paperboard," said Christoph Michalski, President and CEO of BillerudKorsnäs. "To cover the increasing need for BCTMP for our growing board operations, we want to explore the possibilities of producing this pulp quality in Follum together with Viken Skog. As part of this partnership, the intention is also to enter into a long-term wood supply agreement with Viken Skog.

"We initially see good prospects for creating an efficient supply chain and competitive access to the raw materials needed to produce the packaging materials of the future," Michalski said.

Olav Breivik, Chairman of the Board in Viken Skog, added, "The existing infrastructure at Follum provides a promising basis for establishing pulp production with a relatively low investment need. We will in the feasibility study also explore the possibilities for producing biogas, and later also solutions for carbon capture at Follum."

BillerudKorsnäs is a leading producer of primary fibre-based packaging materials with customers in over 100 countries. The company has 8 production units in Sweden, Finland and the UK and about 4,500 employees in over 13 countries. To learn more, please visit: www.billerudkorsnas.com.

SOURCE: BillerudKorsnäs