Finland’s sawmill industry expected to be hit hard by the coronavirus crisis

The coronavirus crisis strikes Finland's forest sector with varying degrees of impact. On the whole, the sector is likely to overcome the problems caused by the coronavirus better than many other industries, but the differences between companies are large. The mechanical forest industry, such as sawmills, is hardest hit. However, the forest sector can recover from the crisis very quickly if the smaller companies in the production chain are not going bankrupt.

The outlook for chemical and mechanical forest industry is very different. Exports of pulp and paperboard will be moderately pulled this year as the coronavirus crisis is likely to increase demand for tissue and the growth in e-commerce will keep packaging sales up. On the other hand, newsprint is already showing a decline in demand: its price has fallen much faster in Europe in recent weeks than other types of