HELSINKI, Finland, Jun 15, 2010 (GlobeNewswire via COMTEX) -- Stora Enso will start co-determination negotiations concerning possible temporary lay-offs at its Finnish sawmills, which are at Kitee, Uimaharju,Varkaus and Honkalahti. The planned lay-offs are in response to the threat that wood cost levels in Finland will become even more uncompetitive if current trends continue.

"We are increasingly concerned by the trend in Finnish raw material prices. We need to prepare ourselves to take rapid corrective actions if raw material prices continue to escalate and can no longer be compensated by increases in end-product prices or efficiency improvements," says Hannu Kasurinen, EVP, Stora Enso Wood Products.

The total number of employees affected by the co-determination negotiations in Finland is about 500. The negotiations address the plan to curtail production at individual sawmills if necessary through temporary lay-offs between 1 September and 31 December 2010. In Finland Stora Enso has a total capacity of about 1.3 million cubic metres of sawn timber per year.

Stora Enso is a global paper, packaging and wood products company producing newsprint and book paper, magazine paper, fine paper, consumer board, industrial packaging and wood products. The Group is the world leader in forest industry sustainability. We offer our customers solutions based on renewable raw materials. Our products provide a climate-friendly alternative to many non-renewable materials, and have a smaller carbon footprint. Stora Enso is listed in the Dow Jones Sustainability Index and the FTSE4Good Index. Stora Enso employs some 27,000 people worldwide, and our sales in 2009 amounted to EUR 8.9billion. Stora Enso shares are listed on NASDAQ OMX Helsinki (STEAV, STERV) and Stockholm (STE A, STE R). In addition, the shares are traded in the USA as ADRs (SEOAY) in the International OTCQX over-the-counter market.