Metsä Tissue secures modernisation permit for Katrinefors plant

Metsä Tissue has secured an environmental permit from Sweden’s Land and Environment Court to expand and modernise its Katrinefors mill in Mariestad, Sweden.

It will now analyse the details in preparation of its final investment decision, which it said it estimates it will confirm during the first half of 2023.

The move is part of Metsä Tissue´s Future Mill Programme which it said aims to “drive world class environmental performance in tissue production.”

The obtained permit would allow for an increased annual production capacity from today’s 75,000 tonnes to 145,000 tonnes of fresh fibre-based tissue papers, and provide 50-100 additional jobs to the mill.

Esa Paavolainen, Project Director at Katrinefors mill, said: “We are pleased to have received this positive decision from the Land and Environmental Court.

“With the planned investment, Metsä Tissue would be a forerunning company in investing into the tissue industry in Sweden and Scandinavia, helping to safeguard the security of supply in essential hygiene tissue products.

“Now the next step is to prepare the actual investment decision.”

Established in 1765, the Katrinefors plant manufacturers tissue paper brands including Katrin, Lambi and Serla.

The investment at the plant would be one of the largest in Metsä Tissue’s history.

Katrinefors site is one of Metsä Tissue’s eight paper mills and part of Metsä Group.