Information

Based in Helsinki, Stora Enso is a relatively young enterprise in the wood, paper and packaging industry. It was established through the merger of two traditional companies in 1998: Stora of Sweden, which had specialized in mining and forestry, and Enso-Gutzeit Oy of Finland, a producer of wood products.
The merger created one of the world's leading corporations in its industry, which now operates in over 35 countries and employs some 29,000 people. The firm recorded net revenue of 16.2 billion dollars in 2008 and thus ranked fourth in the world behind only International Paper (USA, $ 24.8 bn), Kimberly-Clark (USA, $ 19.4 bn) and Svenska Cellulosa (Sweden, $ 17.0 bn). The top ten in the industry also included two other Finnish firms, two Japanese companies, and Irish enterprise and two corporations based in Great Britain and South Africa.

Corporate structure
As a global player, Stora Enso has production plants and sales offices on all five continents. The most important facilities are located in Finland and Sweden, where most of the wood processed by the firm is produced. With a total production of 13.4 million cubic metres, Finland ranked first in the world ahead of Sweden (10.9 million cubic metres) in 2008.
Stora Enso operates a number of paper-processing plants outside of Scandinavia, the majority of which are located in Germany, Poland and Russia. Most of its European sales offices are in Sweden, Germany and Poland. In addition to the development centre in Finland, a second has been established in Mönchengladbach, Germany.
Stora Enso has focused on different areas of specialization in its non-European operations. The firm maintains only sales offices in most countries, including , Mexico, Chile, Argentina, South Africa, the United Arab Emirates, India, Japan, Indonesia and Australia. Its strongest presence is in China, where it operates sales offices, plants and a plantation project, and in Brazil, where it has established a sales office, a plant, a logistics centre and a plantation run as a joint venture. Plantation projects have also been launched in Uruguay, Laos and Thailand. With these facilities, Stora Enso seeks to meet the rising demand for wood in the growing markets outside of Europe. In 2008, however, only six percent of total demand was met with wood from plantations.
D. Falk; Ü: Southard