Metsä Fibre, part of Metsä Group, is building the world’s most modern sawmill in Rauma, Finland. The construction work began in May 2020, and the sawmill’s foundation stone was laid on Thursday 25 March 2021. Due to the coronavirus situation, the foundation stone was laid by Harri Haapaniemi, Project Director, and Liisa-Maija Perävainio, Sawmill Director, without external participants.
“The sawmill’s foundation stone has been laid, and both the engineering and construction have progressed according to plan. The roof and external walls of the sorting line are complete. Piping and plumbing work is underway as we speak, as are the floors. The installation of the wall elements and the construction of the roof at the sawline have also begun. At the debarking department, they’re working on the foundations and the first drying plant structures are up. The construction work will be completed at the end of September, and most equipment and machinery installations will get underway in late summer. The sawmill’s production will begin in the third quarter of 2022,” says Harri Haapaniemi, Project Director of the Rauma sawmill project.
Metsä Group is systematically developing its chemical and mechanical forest industry production units with a long-term approach. The sawmill under construction in Rauma will be a forerunner in terms of its efficiency and the technologies employed.
The value of Metsä Fibre’s investment in the Rauma sawmill is around EUR 200 million, and the new unit will produce around 750,000 cubic metres of pine sawn timber annually. The annual use of logs sourced in Finland is estimated to be around 1.5 million cubic metres. Sawn timber produced by the Rauma sawmill will be sold mainly to Europe and Asia.
Metsä Group’s investments in Finland create both regional and national wellbeing. The Rauma sawmill will create a great many entirely new jobs. It will employ around 100 people directly and some 500 people within its direct value chain. The employment impact of the construction phase amounts to some 1,500 person-years, and the project’s degree of Finnish origin is approximately 70 per cent.
You can follow the progress of the work at the construction site in real time through web cameras at any time of day: www.metsafibre.com/webkameratrauma.
More information:
Harri Haapaniemi, Project Director, Metsä Fibre, Rauma sawmill project, tel. +358 500 361 632
