Sappi Europe has announced the initiation of a consultation process at its Kirkniemi Mill in Finland as part of a proposed asset restructure. This step is being taken in response to a structural decline in demand across Europe and sustained financial challenges. The proposed changes are intended to ensure long term competitiveness in the Graphic Paper Market and align production capacity with changing market dynamics and customer needs.

Sappi Europe has announced the potential closure of Paper Machine 2 at its Kirkniemi Mill in Lohja, Finland. If implemented, this step would reduce the mill's annual capacity of coated magazine paper by 175,000 tonnes.

The proposed asset closure is part of Sappi's strategy to align capacity with market demand and improve operational efficiency with paper machines 1 and 3 remaining in operation. The process would be carefully managed to ensure continuity of supply with no disruption to customers.

The biggest coated publication paper mill in the world, Kirkniemi Mill has a production capacity of 750,000 tons of coated paper for heatset web offset printing serving mainly the high-volume print market. A major investment to convert on-site power generation to biofuels eliminated 90% of the mill's direct, Scope 1 greenhouse gas emissions in 2023.