Metsä Group attributes poor Q2 result to low price in Asia

The profit of the major Finnish forest industry company Metsä Group worsened remarkably in April-July, the company revealed on Thursday.

The result was 128 million euros, while last year in Q2 was 210 million euros.

The group's CEO Ilkka Hamala said the main reason was the low prices at the Asian pulp market.

Metsä Group concluded that the development of world wide pulp markets remains uncertain in the short term.

Metsä noted that the production cutbacks announced by several producers and the annual summer maintenance breaks would balance the supply and demand.

Metsä Group is not publicly listed. Metsä Board, which is part of the group, experienced a drop of share price by 11 percent at the B series of the Helsinki exchange.

Business daily Kauppalehti reported that the price of pulp in China has dropped 30 percent this year. Reserves stored in China still exceed the demand, the newspaper said.