Metsä Group

Metsä Group is a Finnish forest-industry group owned by more than 90,000 Finnish forest owners. Its cooperative roots lie in forest owners joining forces to strengthen their position in timber trade negotiations. Shared timber sales began before Metsäliitto Oy was established in 1934 to expand into timber exports; the company became a cooperative in 1947. The group’s stated purpose is to make products from Nordic wood sourced from family forests and to develop renewable solutions for people and businesses. Its business spans wood procurement and forest services for forest owners, pulp, paperboard, wood products and sawn timber, tissue papers, and greaseproof papers. The company says it makes use of each felled tree: bark, branches and crowns are used for energy, while production side streams are also directed toward bioeconomy products. Metsä Group reports that it uses 100% of the tree and achieves 93% utilisation of production side streams. Its pulp is made from Nordic softwood and birch, and the company says most of the pulp it produces is sold on the global market. It identifies itself as the world’s largest producer of Northern Bleached Softwood Kraft Pulp (NBSK). Metsä Group presents renewable wood, traceable sourcing, resource efficiency and circular-economy practices as central to its operations. It also develops wood-fibre-based offerings intended to replace fossil-based materials, including the Metsä LigO™ lignin product family, Kuura textile fibre and Muoto 3D fibre products. Its products serve industrial customers and consumers through products used in packaging, tissue papers and other everyday applications. The group describes its markets as international, while its ownership and forest-based raw-material supply are rooted in Finland and Nordic forests. The group’s history page describes it as pursuing profitable growth in the 2020s.

Metsä Group’s history is rooted in Finnish forest owners’ efforts to work together in timber trading. According to the company’s history, forest owners joined forces to improve their position in timber trade negotiations, and shared sales formed the early basis of the operation. Metsäliitto Oy was established in 1934 to extend those activities into timber exports. The company became a cooperative in 1947, the milestone the group identifies as the beginning of the Metsäliitto cooperative. The cooperative began building industrial operations soon after. It established its first sawmills in 1949 and expanded into the chemical forest industry in the 1950s. From the 1960s onward, Finland’s forest industry grew rapidly and became increasingly international; Metsäliitto Cooperative expanded along with it. The group’s history highlights the formation of Metsä-Serla in 1986 and the growth and development of the pulp industry within Metsä-Botnia Oy as significant steps in this period. During the 1990s, a period the company describes as one of rapid growth, Metsäliitto invested strongly in Finnish and international markets. By the early 2000s, Metsäliitto Group had become an international forest group with more than 25,000 employees in dozens of countries. Between 2005 and 2012, it carried out a systematic restructuring. In that period, the group changed its name from Metsäliitto Group to Metsä Group and renewed its corporate identity. The restructuring also involved numerous divestments and the discontinuation of print-paper production. The company presents these changes as a move toward a more unified and competitive forest-industry group. In the 2020s, Metsä Group describes itself as being in a phase of strong, profitable growth. Its current portfolio includes pulp, paperboard, wood products and sawn timber, tissue papers and greaseproof papers, as well as wood procurement and forest services. The group also presents resource efficiency and the development of new bioeconomy products as parts of its approach: it states that all parts of a felled tree are used and that production side streams are put to use. Its wood-fibre innovations include Metsä LigO™ lignin products, Kuura textile fibre and Muoto 3D fibre products. The company’s stated ownership base remains more than 90,000 Finnish forest owners.

• 2020

  Profitable growth phase

• 2012

  Restructuring period concludes

• 2005

  Systematic restructuring begins

• 1986

  Metsä-Serla formed

• 1950

  Expansion into the chemical forest industry

• 1949

  First sawmills established

• 1947

  Metsäliitto becomes a cooperative

• 1934

  Metsäliitto Oy established

A forest-owner-owned Finnish forest-industry group positioning renewable Nordic wood, full-tree utilisation, traceable sourcing and circular-economy solutions as the basis of its products and services.

• Pulp

  Wood-fibre pulp, including softwood pulp from Nordic pine and spruce and pulp made from birch; the company says most of its pulp is sold globally.

• Paperboard

  A product category made by the group, using pulp that is also processed at its own mills.

• Wood products and sawn timber

  Wood products made as part of the group’s forest-industry portfolio.

• Tissue papers and greaseproof papers

  Paper products included in the group’s product range.

• Metsä LigO™, Kuura and Muoto

  Wood-fibre-based innovations identified by the company as the Metsä LigO™ lignin product family, Kuura textile fibre and Muoto 3D fibre products.

• Restructuring and portfolio changesOther

1. 1Metsä – From forest, for lifemetsagroup.com
2. 2History | Metsä Groupmetsagroup.com
3. 3Products and services | Metsä Groupmetsagroup.com
4. 4Pulp | Products and servicesmetsagroup.com
5. 5Metsä Fibre Rebrands Its Botnia Pulp as Metsä Pulppaperage.com