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<\/span>According to Ali Harlin, a research professor at the VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland, the availability of wood as a raw material for industry is already a problem in Finland.<\/p>\n \"You can send a thank-you note for that to the Kremlin. We have drifted into a situation where we have a significant shortage of wood, above all in southeast Finland,\" says Harlin.<\/p>\n The first industrial victim of the wood shortage was the Sunila pulp mill in Kotka. The Finnish forestry products firm Stora Enso announced in early September that the mill is to close by the end of the year. Announcing the closure, the company said the mill is no longer profitable, a situation caused especially by the end of the import of raw timber from Russia.<\/p>\n Shortage here to stay<\/strong><\/p>\n Before Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine about 18 months ago, Finland imported about 7\u201310 percent of the raw wood used in the processing industry from Russia. In southeastern Finland, the share of Russian wood used by mills was even higher.<\/p>\n Finland's forest industry is now facing a major transformation, spurred by a lack of materials.<\/p>\n \"The availability of wood as a raw material is becoming increasingly challenging and increasingly limited,\" Harlin points out.<\/p>\n In addition to the end of imports from Russia, the growing use of wood in the form of wood chips or pellets in biofuel energy production has contributed to the shortage at mills.<\/p>\n Increased forest harvesting, on the other hand, is difficult due to the EU's carbon sink obligations. The growth of forests has also declined in recent years and is unlikely to recover to its previous level.<\/p>\n New products coming<\/strong><\/p>\n According to Harlin, the solution to the shortage of raw materials is to increase the value of the forest industry's end products.<\/p>\n \"Creating added value by increasing volume is no longer possible as it was with the previous model. Instead, more added value needs to be created from the same amount of raw materials,\" Harlin explained.<\/p>\n Clear signs of this trend are already visible.<\/p>\n \"Investments in new products have multiplied during the 2020s, as compared to the past, and projects are now being actively advanced to the trial phase,\" he says.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" According to Ali Harlin, a research professor at the VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland, the availability of wood as a raw material for industry is already a problem in Finland. “You can send a thank-you note for that to … Continue reading