Metsä Board Corporation, part of Metsä Group, is introducing the final steps of transformation to a paperboard company and invests approximately $191.2m in a new folding boxboard machine at its Husum mill in Sweden, reported PaperAge. The production capacity of the new machine is approximately 400,000 tonnes per annum and it will start up in early 2016. 

Full production capacity is expected to be reached by the end of 2016. Husum mill’s paper production is planned to be discontinued mostly at the end of 2015 and fully by the end of 2017.

The Husum mill currently has the capacity to produce 470,000 tonnes per year of uncoated paper; 340,000 tpy of coated paper; and 750,000 tpy of bleached kraft pulp.

Metsä Board is also planning new measures to eliminate losses of its Gohrsmühle mill in Germany. The primary target is to divest the mill during the first half of 2015. If the divestment does not materialize in the set time frame, Metsä Board will introduce other measures to eliminate the unit’s heavy losses. Gohrsmühle mill has approximately 480 employees and its main products are cast coated and label papers. The mill’s annual sales amount to approximately $95.6m and annualized operating loss to 22.5m based on the 1-3Q 2014 performance.