Helsinki, Finland, 04 March 2010 – UPM has been forced to close its Rauma paper mill due to the Finnish stevedores' strike which started 04 March 2010 at 6 a.m. Finnish time. All of the mill's four magazine paper machines are closed. Production work at paper machines ends today, affecting about 450 employees.

In other UPM paper mills in Finland, preparation for machine line shut downs is ongoing. Major part of UPM's paper machines in Finland are forced to be closed by the end of this week. The last paper machine closures will take place at the beginning of next week. The company will try to operate its Finnish pulp mills until the end of next week.

When all paper machines are at a standstill, the financial impact of the strike on UPM's result is estimated to exceed EUR 3 million a day.

"In recent years, our paper mills have worked hard to improve their competitiveness. This strike destroys the good results of that work," said Arto Lampinen, UPM's senior vice president for Paper Manufacturing .

UPM's Finnish paper mills employ altogether about 4300 persons. If all of UPM paper machines in Finland close due to the strike, about 3000 persons would be affected. In line with the Finnish Contracts of Employment Act, UPM will suspend salary payment seven days after the end of paper machine production work.