Paper Excellence announced that it recently donated 9,000 jack pine seedlings to the James Smith Cree Nation. James Smith Cree Nation is located on Treaty 6 territory, approximately 60 kilometres east of Prince Albert. The jack pine is native to Saskatchewan and produces excellent habitat for local plant and animal species. The seedlings planted this year will grow to become a forest on the James Smith Cree reserve. “Paper Excellence understands the importance of being good neighbours and greatly values its relationships with Indigenous communities,” said Carlo Dal Monte, Vice President Energy and Strategic Development for Paper Excellence. “We’re pleased to be able to make this donation to the James Smith Cree Nation and, in a small way, support their connection to the land and desire to invest in sustainable forestry.”

“BillerudKorsnäs has an incredible opportunity at the sweet spot of trends supporting a growing demand for our renewable, high-quality products made of primary fibres. We have developed a strategic direction around how to reach a profitable and sustainable revenue growth to 2030,” comments Christoph Michalski, President and CEO. BillerudKorsnäs’ new strategy focuses on attractive markets with good growth opportunities and product segments where the company has a strong ability to compete. • Whilst Europe will remain the main market, new business opportunities will be explored, specifically for paperboard in the Americas. • To maximise the organic growth opportunity operational efficiency will be critical. Therefore, the annual investments in mill maintenance and development are expected to reach SEK 1.5-1.7 billion until 2025. • Possibilities to increase production capacity at the group’s existing facilities or via acquisitions will be evaluated. • Transformation towards a professional sourcing organisation for wood supply is an integral part of the strategy with the aim to build long term partnerships to secure a competitive fibre availability. • Additional structural savings under the current cost and efficiency programme is estimated to amount to SEK 130 million during 2022.

Conciliator Leo Suomaa has submitted proposals for UPM Specialty Papers and UPM Raflatac in the collective labour negotiations with the Paperworkers’ Union. The conciliator has asked the parties to state their position on the proposals by 14 April 2022 at 10:00 EEST, which is also the deadline for the settlement proposal for UPM Pulp, given earlier by the conciliator. In the meanwhile, conciliation will continue between the Union and UPM Biofuels. The conciliation for UPM Communication Papers was interrupted last weekend, and no further meetings have been agreed. "I am pleased that the negotiations have reached a point where conciliation settlements are presented. I hope agreements will be reached soon, and we get to start the mills", says Riitta Savonlahti, Executive Vice President, Human Resources at UPM.