Finns appointed to prominent positions in European forest industry organisations

Stora Enso Timber Oy Ltd’s Senior Vice President Matti Mikkola has been appointed Chairman of the Board of the European Confederation of Woodworking Industries CEI-Bois for the period 2010-11. He has previously served as a member of the Board of CEI-Bois.

UPM President & CEO Jussi Pesonen has been appointed Vice-Chairman of the Confederation of European Paper Industries CEPI for the next two-year term. Mr Pesonen is also the Vice-Chairman of the Finnish Forest Industries Federation. Sappi Fine Paper Europe CEO Berry Wiersum was appointed Chairman of CEPI. 

The appointments take effect on 1 January 2010.

The European organisations are tasked with supporting the EU Commission in furthering initiatives that strengthen the forest-based sector. EU legislation and regulations play an especially significant role on issues related to energy and the environment.

CEI-Bois lobbies EU decision makers on behalf of the European wood products industry. Some 380,000 wood products companies operate in the EU and they employ about three million people. The combined value of these companies’ annual production is over €200 billion.

Sixteen EU countries as well as Norway and Switzerland are represented on the Confederation of European Paper Industries CEPI. This organisation speaks on behalf of some 800 pulp and paper companies, which own about 1,100 production facilities around Europe.

The pulp and paper industry employs about 245,000 people directly and some 1.8 million indirectly. CEPI member countries account for 27% of global pulp and paper production. Member companies generate a combined annual turnover of about €80 billion.