27/01/2009 Metsäliitto Wood Products Industry will suspend the operations at its Kyröskoski sawmill until further notice due to heavily reduced demand and unprofitable sawmilling. Temporary layoffs due to the suspended operations will affect the majority of the sawmill personnel which is 67 people in total. The statutory labour negotiations regarding the suspension of the sawmill operations ended on Friday 23 January 2009. "In the current extremely difficult operating environment, sawmilling is heavily unprofitable. The most effective way to reduce losses is to decrease the sawing volume, unfortunately," says Ole Salvén, Group Executive Vice President, Metsäliitto Wood Products Industry, Finnforest. "Also the overcapacity in the sawn timber markets in Europe inevitably leads to shrinking production volumes in Finland. We will follow this market development closely as we plan our operations." Should the overall prerequisites for profitable sawmilling return, Metsäliitto Wood Products Industry will determine if the operations of the Kyröskoski sawmill can be resumed after the summer - potentially with limited capacity. The Kyröskoski spruce sawmill is located in Hämeenkyrö, neighbouring the city of Tampere, Finland. The annual volume of sawn timber produced at the mill is approximately 200,000 cubic metres. Over 50% of the production is exported; about 25% is supplied to the Metsäliitto Wood Product Industry's own upgrading and the rest to the Finnish market. Further information: Timo Pekkola, Senior Vice President, Solid Wood Business Line, tel. +358 10 469 4743 Johanna Kankkunen, Communications, Metsäliitto Wood Products Industry, Finnforest, tel. +358 50 350 4005