A six-week production shutdown at Metsä Fibre’s large bioproduct mill in Kemi will temporarily reduce demand for pulpwood in northern Finland. At the same time, Stora Enso is considering closing the Veitsiluoto sawmill permanently. The announcements increase uncertainty for forest owners, logging contractors and transport companies, although they do not mean that the regional wood trade will come to a standstill. Metsä Fibre will suspend production at its Kemi bioproduct mill for six weeks during October and November 2026. The shutdown will allow the company to modernise the mill’s cooking system and will be coordinated with its regular annual maintenance outage. The unusually long stoppage is expected to reduce the mill’s immediate consumption of pulpwood. …The immediate consequences are likely to include softer demand and more complicated logistics during the autumn. This does not amount to a collapse of northern Finland’s wood market.