How Russian birch supply cuts are leading to plywood mill closures in Finland

Metsä Group recently announced the closure of its birch and softwood plywood mills in Suolahti, Central Finland. The reason given is poor profitability, primarily due to the high price of birch logs, a situation that stems indirectly from Russia's war and the halt of birch log imports from the country. Additionally, domestic birch cultivation has not been sufficiently encouraged. Last year, the recorded trade volume of birch logs was 0.86 million cubic meters, with almost no imports. While this amount is not significant compared to total logging, it is roughly ten times the volume of ...