![\"\"](\"https:\/\/timberindustrynews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/kuhmo-1.jpg\")
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
The competitiveness of Finnish sawmills has been maintained through investments. One example of that is Kuhmo Oy, whose 50 million euro sawing line is being completed at a difficult time. However, the industry sees opportunities.<\/span><\/p>\n Construction in Finland is declining and there are bankruptcies in the construction industry, so the domestic demand for sawn timber is also falling.<\/p>\n However, at sawmills, the eggs are not only in one basket, the vast majority of the production is exported abroad. Despite the crisis in the construction industry, the future is seen as bright in the Kuhmo Oy sawmill in Kuhmo.<\/p>\n During the last three years, intensive construction work has been going on at the company's site. The company has invested 50 million euros in modernizing production and increasing capacity.<\/p>\n The new sawing line is expected to increase production by about half, it is currently in the testing phase.<\/p>\n ''It's a big effort and will go down in the company's history as one of the milestones. We are slowly getting closer to the goal,'' says CEO Tommi Ruha.<\/p>\n Ruha gives an example of the effect of the new sawing line on production growth: it means 20 log trucks more traffic per day for Kuhmo Oy's sawmill. In the same way, more end products are also sent out.<\/p>\n ''More wood chips and shavings are produced and delivered to customers in northern Finland. Of course, lumber goes all over the world.''<\/p>\n With investments, we drive a wedge into a bigger competitor country, which can be found in the neighbor, Sweden.<\/p>\n ''The Swedish sawmill industry is now even helped by the relatively favorable exchange rate of the krona. It gives them a competitive edge.''<\/p>\n The corona pandemic increased the demand and price of softwood lumber significantly worldwide, but during the beginning of the year the value of exports has decreased rapidly.<\/p>\n A wide market guarantees that there is always a deal going on somewhere<\/strong><\/p>\n Kuhmo Oy manufactures products for the construction and building industry, but also for the carpentry and furniture industry.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n The location of the sawmill near the eastern border is both good and bad. The CEO of Kuhmo Oy talks about the location as a disadvantage because it costs money to transport the final product. Equally good is that the wood comes from nearby, i.e. from Kainuu and the northern parts of North Karelia.<\/p>\n The company said in May that its 2022 turnover was EUR 125.4 million (EUR 126.1 million in 2021) and operating profit was EUR 24.8 million (EUR 32.7 million in 2021). This year, Kuhmo Oy anticipates that it will be more difficult and is also preparing for production restrictions.<\/p>\n There is a feverish search for markets in China<\/strong><\/p>\n The sawmill industry has difficulties in exporting, says Tino Aalto, CEO of Sahateollisuus ry, reached from Shanghai . He finds the situation unfortunately difficult.<\/p>\n ''That's why we are here with several of our member companies, so that we can export more and more lumber to China.''<\/p>\n China is among the five most important export markets for the Finnish sawmill industry.<\/p>\n ''I hope we can conclude more and more contracts here. That way, much-needed export euros to Finland can be obtained. In China, Russian lumber also competes for the market, whose sanctions keep it out of the European market.<\/p>\n Most of the sawn timber and wood products end up in construction, and currently the number of new small houses being built is small. Even in apartment buildings, wood construction is very small in volume. At the moment, neither small houses nor wooden apartment buildings are going up in Finland as hoped.<\/p>\n Aalto considers the Finnish sawmill industry to be very competitive despite everything, because the companies have modernized and invested a lot in sawmills . The Finnish forest and the wood obtained from it are also considered high-quality and suitable for many uses.<\/p>\n The raw material is fine and the companies are competitive.<\/p>\n However, according to Aalto, the price of softwood lumber is unfortunately low at the moment in relation to the price of log wood.<\/p>\n ''Sawmills buy logs, the price of which is relatively high. We have an equation where the price of sawn timber has historically returned to a low level and the raw material itself is at a correspondingly high level,'' he says.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The competitiveness of Finnish sawmills has been maintained through investments. One example of that is Kuhmo Oy, whose 50 million euro sawing line is being completed at a difficult time. However, the industry sees opportunities. Construction in Finland is declining … Continue reading ![\"\"](\"https:\/\/timberindustrynews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/kuhmo2-1-300x169.jpg\")
<\/p>\n