UPM Suspends Deliveries to Russia

As the result of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, UPM-Kymmene Oyj, the Helsinki, Finland-based forest industry company, has announced that it intended to temporarily cease deliveries to Russia. In the announcement, the company said that UPM businesses will keep their Russian customers and suppliers informed of the situation.

While the forest industry is not directly targeted by the international sanctions at the moment, sanctions against the financial sector may impact UPM’s or its customers’ businesses and transactions in Russia. The full impact of the current and possible new sanctions and countersanctions will be known only as the situation evolves. UPM monitors the situation closely and makes decisions accordingly.

UPM has employees, customers, and suppliers in both countries, but UPM’s exposure to Russian and Ukrainian markets is limited. UPM Raflatac has a distribution terminal in the Kyiv region with 13 employees. The terminal operations have been closed until further notice. In Russia, UPM employs 800 persons, most of whom work at the Chudovo plywood mill. The operations are currently running as usual.

UPM’s sales to Russia and Ukraine (combined) was approximately 2% of UPM’s total sales in 2021. Assets in Russia are less than 1% of the group total. In 2021, less than 10% of UPM’s wood sourcing to Finland originated from Russia.