Vida Adjusts Sawmill Structure

Vida AB announced today that it will permanently close its sawmill operations in Urshult and Orrefors. The decision is part of a long-term strategic direction to further strengthen Vida’s competitiveness and create the best possible conditions for continued growth through investments in the company’s remaining 13 sawmills.

Southern Sweden has experienced an extended period of imbalance between production capacity and access to fibre supply, which is anticipated to persist for the foreseeable future. Against this background, Vida has conducted a thorough review of its sawmill structure and fibre supply and determined that the imbalance means difficulties in operating and developing Vida’s 15 existing sawmills and requires a change to Vida’s operating platform.

“Closing our Urshult and Orrefors operations is a difficult but necessary decision,” said Karl-Johan Löwenadler, CEO of Vida AB. “I understand that these closures impact many of our employees, their families, and communities. We are committed to supporting our employees with transition support and will work closely with trade union parties and other relevant actors. Our employees are Vida’s most important resource, and we take our responsibility as an employer very seriously in this situation.”

“The long-term strategy is to strengthen Vida’s competitiveness, to continue to have strong supplier and customer relationships, and to be a secure employer,” added Karl-Johan Löwenadler, CEO of Vida AB. “By concentrating our resources into fewer and more specialized units, we can continue to develop Vida in a competitive and sustainable way.”

“Our focus is to continue investing in and developing our sawmills and other business areas. While there is muted demand for wood products currently, we strongly believe in wood as the material of the future and we are confident that the demand will be there in the long term,” says Karl-Johan Löwenadler, CEO of Vida AB.

The closure of Urshult and Orrefors operations will reduce Vida’s lumber production capacity by 265K m3 annually.  Vida’s remaining 13 sawmills will continue to produce 3 000K annually.

 

For further questions: Joanna Kron, Head of Communications, 073-0213116