PULP & PAPER:
Statement of the management
"2009 posed many challenges, for our customers and for ourselves. Nevertheless, the measures implemented and the intact long-term growth drivers of the pulp and paper markets give us every reason to look towards the future with confidence.
The biggest challenge to our business area in 2009 was adapting to the changed general environment in which our customers are operating. We reacted by implementing restructuring and capacity adjustment measures very quickly – before the end of 2008. And we are optimistic that we will emerge from this crisis stronger than before. After all, we have continued to invest in research and development in spite of the difficult environment – in biomass boiler technology, for example, which pulp mills can use to produce green electricity, or in technologies for second-generation bioethanol plants using cellulosic raw materials.
It is our firm conviction that the investment potential of the pulp and paper industry in the long run is very high. The shift of pulp production capacities from the northern to the southern hemisphere and the investments made in environmental technologies that contribute towards climate protection and enhanced efficiency in customers’ plants are the principal driving forces."