End of July, UPM announced plans to permanently end paper production in Kaukas and to shift its coated mechanical paper production in Finland to UPM Rauma mill. The employee consultation processes have now been completed. Paper machine 1 in Kaukas will be permanently closed during Q4. The reduction of personnel is 220. Following the closure, coated mechanical paper production capacity will be reduced by 300.000 tonnes annually. UPM’s pulp, sawn timber and biofuels production and R&D activities at UPM Kaukas integrate will continue as before.

Crown Native is available for sale starting from February 2021 after 2 years of development. Environmental friendly and food compliant. The commercialization of the sugar beet paper makes Crown Van Gelder the first in the world to produce 'sugar beet paper' at an industrial level. The new product line called 'Crown Native' reduces the environmental impact by 16% through the usage of less wood fibers compared to traditional paper. A second advantage of using sugar beet pulp is that it is FDA* compliant. Crown Native is also approved by the BfR36** and suitable for food packaging, unlike most types of recycled papers that contain print ink residue. This makes sugar beet paper the ideal choice for product packaging and also for shopping bags or promotional print. Crown Native is the perfect fit for brands with a sustainability ambition.

“We delivered strong results in 2024, achieving nineteen percent earnings growth,” said Deon Stander, president and CEO. “Both our Materials and Solutions Groups delivered strong top-and bottom-line results, with our industries recovering from downstream inventory destocking last year, once again demonstrating the strength of our overall franchise. “We remain well-positioned to continue our long track record of strong earnings growth in 2025, including accelerating growth in our high-value categories, which now account for almost half of our portfolio,” added Stander. “We are confident that the consistent execution of our strategies will enable us to meet our long-term goals for superior value creation in a range of geopolitical and macro scenarios."