Sodra Makes Investments in Sawmill at Varo

Södra is making extensive investments in the sawmill at Värö, primarily in final trimming and drying, but also in other parts of the facility. “In April last year, we announced our plans to build a cross-laminated timber (“CLT”) facility at Värö. We can now see that our investment in the CLT facility will also make it possible for us to improve the flow and customer offering for our sawn timber, and have therefore decided to make additional investments in Värö,” said Jörgen Lindquist, President of the Södra Wood business area.

Investment will mainly be focused on trimming and drying capacity, but also to some extent on log sorting as well as sawing and green sorting.

“We believe in Värö and are very satisfied with the profitability trend in recent years. The investment will increase capacity, enable us to grow with our customers and strengthen competitiveness,” said Jörgen.

Other benefits will be more stable and higher quality products, since an automatic grading system will be installed for the sideboards, instead of today’s manual sorting. Investment will also be made in increased drying capacity, which will improve the drying quality and lead to a better product.

“We will also be able to offer a higher proportion of planed products from Värö. That is positive, because we see continued growth in the market for processed products. In turn, that will also provide opportunities for higher pellet volumes,” said Jörgen.

When investments in the production of CLT at Värö are completed, Södra will be one of the leading players in solid construction timber in the Nordic region.

“A large CLT facility and Sweden’s largest sawmill in the same geographic location will present excellent opportunities to leverage synergies at Värö that will strengthen our customer offering,” said Jörgen.

The investments in the sawmill are scheduled for completion by late autumn 2021.

Contact:

Jorgen Lindquist – President Sodra Wood Business – jorgen.lindquist@sodra.com – +46 (0) 470-892 27

Source: Sodra Skogsagarna ekonomisk forening