Struggling Forestries Bet On Biofuel Boom

European and North American forestry companies are increasingly investing in making biofuels out of wood residues, a market they say will be closely linked with their core paper business.

Making production self-sufficient is their primary target as rising energy costs hurt their already low profit margins, but they also see bioenergy as a lucrative business in itself.
“We wouldn’t be there if we didn’t see good profits out of that kind of business,” said Jussi Pesonen, chief executive of the world’s top magazine paper maker UPM-Kymmene.

UPM has for years invested in energy production and its paper plants are already self-sufficient in Finland and at 70 percent across its operations globally.

Pesonen said combining energy production with paper-making was a natural move and adds value to biomass used.

Planet Ark