Finland. Keitele Timber Oy

Keitele Group is a Finnish family-owned company that operates sawmills and refining facilities for mechanical wood processing. In addition to lumber in special dimensions, the company produces planed, sawn and glued laminated (glulam) wood products. NIB’s loan is financing Keitele Timber, a subsidiary that runs three sawmills.

Over the last three years, the Keitele Group’s turnover has grown by 56%. The company has made significant investments during the past five years, focusing on obtaining efficient production processes in state-of-the-art plants with high-technology machines. NIB’s loan would finance, among other things, flue gas scrubbers, dryers for sawdust and bark, and a pellet factory.

Keitele Group exports over 90% of its finished, refined products to around 40 countries, with Asia—especially Japan—being an important market. There is industry expectation of increasing wood usage in construction (as an alternative to steel or concrete) as a competitive green and sustainable building material.

Keitele Group’s three production facilities are located in sparsely populated regions, strategically close to timber reserves in Keitele, Alajärvi and Kemijärvi (in Lapland, i.e. in the arctic).

Productivity:

The municipalities where Keitele Group operates have average income levels that are around 20% below the national average. Hence, Keitele Group is important in boosting the local economies and providing employment to 500 people directly and about 1,400 people indirectly. With more than 56% organic sales growth over the past three years, Keitele Group qualifies as a fast growing mid-cap according to NIB’s definition criteria. As a by-product of lumber production and wood processing, Keitele Group produces biofuels.

Environment:

Keitele Group produces lumber and wood products, mainly for the construction industry and manufacturing of furniture, doors, windows, etc. The main product from wood processing is glulam, which can be used in construction as an alternative to steel or concrete. The use of glulam from sustainable forestry resources instead of steel or concrete elements results in significant savings of energy and reductions in CO₂ emissions in the life cycle of new buildings.

As a by-product of lumber production and wood processing, Keitele Group produces biofuels. Almost 75% of the biofuel is sold for energy generation to regional energy suppliers. In addition, Keitele Group produces pellets as further processed by-products. The total annual production of biofuel is over 1 000 GWh.

Expected annual environmental impacts related to the investment

Annual production capacity of glue laminated timber:  200,000 m3

Annual production of biofuels: approximately 1 000 GWh

The key environmental aspect of Keitele Group’s production is wood procurement. Some 90–95% of the wood it uses is sourced from sustainably managed (PEFC-certified) forests. The main emissions into the air at the production sites include water vapour, volatile organic compounds and dust. Noise impacts comply with the Finnish ambient noise regulations. A specific waste from the production of glued laminated timber is glue waste, for which disposal is arranged correctly. Keitele Group has an ISO 14001-certified environmental management system.