Norra Skog decreased its results

Operating profit was SEK 219 million, compared with SEK 794 million in the first half of last year.

The Forest, Sawmill and Pulp Mill business areas performed well, but the Construction Products business area had a negative result.

"The biggest challenge has mainly concerned building products such as exterior panels and joists. This was due to a decline in construction. However, thanks to production reorganizations combined with high market activity in existing and new markets, it has so far been possible to maintain sawmill production without any major stockpiling," says CEO Pär Lärkeryd.

Norra Skog is a member-owned association where profits are shared with the members. Profit sharing is based on the association's long-term results, not on individual years. The association's finances mean that profit sharing can take place regardless of the economic situation, which helps members to maintain profitability in their forestry operations.

- Our strategy is based on a long-term and gradual price development for members' timber deliveries. Growing forest takes a hundred years, which does not fit with the idea that the value of what has been grown should be overly dependent on whether the economic situation is low or high at the time of delivery. The association's strong finances give us this unique opportunity. I even see scope for the board to propose to the general meeting that the supplementary payment for this year's timber deliveries be raised a further step," says the association's chairman Stig Högberg.

Norra Skog is a forest owners' association owned by 27,000 individual forest owners with a total forest holding of just over 2.2 million hectares of forest land in northern Sweden (the regions of Norrbotten, Västerbotten, Lapland, Ångermanland, Medelpad and Jämtland).

Lennart Håkansson

editor@northswedenbusiness.com