Unscheduled stops at two UPM pulp mills in Finland

The tightness that can be witnessed on the European pulp market has been aggravated after two pulp mills of UPM had to temporarily stop production.

Due to technical problems, UPM had to suspend production at two Finnish pulp mills for several days. At the Kymi site, pulp lines were shut down for a total of five days after problems arose in the bleaching plant on 17 March 2021, a company spokesperson said. Production was reportedly restarted on 22 March. At the Kaukas mill, UPM had to idle pulp production on 21 March for undisclosed reasons. The line was scheduled to restart on March 23, it said. It was unclear whether the machine resumed production as planned when this issue went to press.

The spokesperson would not comment on how much pulp the group lost due to the unplanned shutdowns. UPM produces softwood and birch pulp at the two sites, with a capacity of up to 870,000 tpy and 770,000 tpy at the Kymi and the Kaukas sites, respectively.