Due to prolonged weak profitability, Metsä Board part of Metsä Group, plans to close the Tako mill (in Finland) and improve the efficiency of the Kyro mill. Discussions have been initiated at both mills involving a total of about 360 employees, which could result in a reduction of up to 215 employees. If the plan is implemented, production at the Tako mill will cease during this year. The aim of the discussions at the Kyro mill is to improve its profitability and safeguard its operational conditions.
In recent years, the production of folding boxboard at the Tako and Kyro mills has remained well below capacity due to the market situation, and the mills have had to implement various temporary layoffs. Due to the weak market situation and rapidly increasing costs, both mills were operating at a loss in 2023 and 2024. The competitiveness of the Tako boxboard production mill is particularly weakened by its high energy costs and the small size of its production lines. The development of the mill is also limited by its exceptional location in the center of Tampere. The potential closure of the Tako mill would not affect deliveries to customers, as Metsä Board’s overall capacity for folding boxboard production is sufficient to meet current demand.
Metsä Board estimates that the planned measures would improve the company’s comparable EBITDA by approximately €30 million annually.
The Tako paper mill has two folding boxboard machines with an annual production capacity of 70,000 and 140,000 tons. This represents about 13% of the company’s current annual production capacity of around 1.6 million tons of folding boxboard.
“The planned measures, if implemented, would be extremely difficult for us,” says CEO Mika Joukio. “Our employees at our Pirkanmaa mills are highly skilled and have shown great flexibility in the difficult market situation of recent years. However, we must consider alternatives to improve our competitiveness and profitability. We currently have several ongoing investments to improve the competitiveness of our mills and products, which will require capital and a solid financial position in the coming years.”