Paper production grows

  • 2012-08-22

TALLINN - Initial estimates show that the Estonian paper industry generated 186 million euros in sales last year, reports LETA. The sales volume for the sector in 2011 grew 4.4 percent in the year-on-year comparison, mostly due to exports, which accounted for 86 percent of the total production output.

France maintained its position as the principal target market for the sector, mostly due to exports in mechanical wood pulp, although sales to France fell by a quarter in the year. At the same time, sales of mechanical pulp to the Netherlands grew by more than three times in the year-on-year comparison. The third major destination country for exports was Egypt.
The employment rate in the paper industry declined greatly, by nearly 8 percent, while labor costs fell 3 percent. Average pay in the sector grew nearly 12 percent – the fastest growth in the manufacturing sector.

Investments into fixed assets nearly doubled, to 15 million euros, exceeding pre-crisis levels. More than 90 percent of all resources invested into fixed assets was, as usual, spent on machinery and equipment.
The biggest companies in the Estonian paper industry sector are Estonian Cell and Horizon Pulp and Paper, which contribute a total of more than two thirds of all sales generated in the sector.