Finland’s packaging mills are back in production since 1 June after a two-week strike, while the rest of the country’s pulp and paper sector remains in an extended lockout, reports Ahmed ElAmin.

The Finnish Forest Industries Federation has extended their lockout of the rest of the sector’s 24,000 workers until 29 June unless a compromise is achieved, said Halana Aatinen, the organisation’s spokesperson. Finland's paper sector accounts for 8% of the country’s gross domestic product (GDP) and 15 per cent of the world's total production of paper. The lockout affects some of the world's largest paper makers, including UPM-Kymmene and Stora Enso, leading to fears of a hike in global paper prices.

Talks between the industry body and the workers’ union resumed on Monday. The industry association had initially excluded the packaging mills from the lockout, but workers went on strike at those plants anyway, except for one mill that made milk packages, she said. “We wanted to insure that our packaging clients were not hurt by the lockout,” Aatinen said about the initial exclusion of the mills from the shutdown of the industry.