After a speculation over this year’s recession period being extended to the forth quarter, some of businesses in Finland have already set their eyes on the international markets for help.
Manufacturers, including engineering company Metso Oyj (MEO1V) and papermaker UPM-Kymmene Oyj (UPM1V), are moving production closer to their customers in emerging markets in response to a global shift in demand.
UPM’s Raflatac label-making unit has announced it is investing in China and Vietnam, and has opened distribution terminals in Mexico City and Buenos Aires in the past year.
Metso plans to expand its biomass business in China and India as growing urban populations drive up energy demand, while European governments cut back support for clean power, Martin Ridderheim, vice president of Helsinki-based Metso’s power business, said on Nov. 8.
“Our industry has been challenged by a quiet tsunami over a longer period,” Urpilainen said. “60,000 industrial jobs have disappeared in the past four years. We must ensure our export industries remain competitive.”
According to Bloomberg, Finland’s economy, which relies on exports for a third of its output, last year, sank into a recession in the second quarter, hurt by a contraction in the euro area. Manufacturing and construction shrank an annual 1 percent in October, while service output remained unchanged from a year ago, the statistics office said.
