Metsä GroupBrochure 2020

Sales in 2020

BY BUSINESS AREAS%

BY MARKET AREAS%

Wood supply and forest services 26

Metsä Wood 6 Metsä Fibre 26 Metsä Board 27 Metsä Tissue 15

EMEA** 71 Americas 10 APAC*** 19

Your partner in sustainable growth

Metsä Group uses wood from northern forests to produce high quality recyclable and environmentally friendly products for everyday life.

We develop our operations continuously, always taking into account economic, social and ecological aspects. We improve the growth of forests and safeguard their biodiversity, expand our industrial operations responsibly, and help replace fossil-based products with renewable ones. The way we see it, wood is the solution to many future challenges.

Our business areas focus on wood supply and forest services, wood products (Metsä Wood), pulp and sawn timber (Metsä Fibre), paperboard (Metsä Board) as well as tissue and greaseproof papers (Metsä Tissue). In addition to these, we develop new innovations – such as textile fibre and 3D fibre products – from the world’s best raw material, northern wood.

We invest strongly in the growth and development of our production. In Finland, we are currently building a new bioproduct mill in Kemi – the largest investment by the Finnish forest industry in Finland – and the world’s most modern sawmill in Rauma. We are also investing e.g. in the renewal of the Husum pulp mill in Sweden.

87

CERTIFIED WOOD %

93

UTILISATION OF PRODUCTION SIDE STREAMS%

9,200PERSONNEL

5,055SALES*EUR million

368

OPERATING RESULTEUR million

Production unit

Head office

* External sales** Europe, the Middle East and Africa*** Asia-Pacific

2 3

Highlightsof 2020

Metsä Group’s innovation company Metsä Spring continues to invest in the development of new wood-based products and business operations. The Expand Fibre collaboration initiated with Fortum focuses on processing of pulps into various new bioproducts. The joint demo plant of Metsä Spring and Itochu Corporation in Äänekoski produced its first batch of new pulp-based textile fibre in September 2020. In the future, the new textile fibre may offer an environmentally friendly alternative to cotton and oil-based synthetic fibres. Äänekoski will soon also be home to another pilot plant where Metsä Spring will develop wood-based 3D fibre products that can be used to replace fossil-based food packaging, among other things.

Metsäverkko is an increasingly advanced tool for wood trades and forest managementIn late summer 2020, Metsä Group launched an upgraded version of Metsäverkko. This service allows forest owners to review and update their own forest plans, and to conduct wood trades and place orders for forest management services electronically. The new Metsäverkko is faster and easier to use and its layout has also been clarified. It is now also easier to use with a mobile device than before.

A hybrid element makes use of wood’s good propertiesMetsä Wood participates in the development of new kinds of hybrid elements for building industry. For instance, in hybrid element, which combines wood and concrete, the load-bearing core of a concrete wall element is replaced with a Kerto LVL panel. This reduces carbon footprint of buildings without changes to the current construction method. In addition to the environmental aspect, the hybrid elements enable efficient industrial prefabrication, thanks to their lightweight that facilitates logistics and lifting of the elements on construction site. The hybrid elements are aimed at bringing wood construction more to urban areas and high-rise buildings.

Metsä Board opened a state-of-the-art Excellence Centre in Äänekoski, Finland, to accelerate paperboard and packaging innovation and offer a collaboration platform to customers and technology partners globally. The Excellence Centre includes research and development facilities, a packaging design studio, a customer feedback centre and a cutting-edge laboratory offering more than 100 different measurement and analysis methods.

Metsä Tissue plans to grow its tissue paper production based on fresh fibres by preparing an investment decision concerning the Mariestad mill in Sweden. The company filed an environmental permit application for the investment in May 2020. If realised, the Mariestad investment would more than double the mill’s production capacity, and the additional capacity would be equal to the annual tissue paper consumption of more than a million households.

Growth plans in tissue paper production

Metsä Fibre is building a new bioproduct mill in Kemi and a new pine sawmill in Rauma, both in Finland. The investment decision concerning Kemi was made in February 2021. The bioproduct mill, valued at approximately EUR 1.6 billion, is the largest investment by the Finnish forest industry in Finland, and the mill is set to start up in 2023. The construction of the Rauma sawmill began in the spring of 2020, and production begins in 2022. The sawmill will be a worldwide fore-runner in technology and efficiency. This is Finland’s biggest ever sawmill investment.

New bioproduct mill and pine sawmill under construction

World-class innovations from wood

New Excellence Centre accelerates paperboard innovation

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Strategy of profitable growthThe world’s population is growing and competition for energy and natural resources is becoming tighter, which is why resources must be used more efficiently. As a forerunner of the bioeconomy, the changes in the operating environment create versatile opportunities for Metsä Group. Metsä Group is in a phase of strong, profitable growth. Our business is based on renewable raw materials and recyclable products, in which wood from northern, sustainably managed forests and our profound

expertise provide a competitive advantage. We focus on wood supply and forest services, wood products, pulp, paperboard as well as tissue and greaseproof papers. We develop our operations responsibly, always taking into account ecological, social and economic aspects. We improve the growth of forests, expand our industrial operations sustainably and contribute to the shift from fossil products to renewables. The way we see it, wood is the solution to many challenges in the future.

Northern wood Climate change concerns us all, and our future must be based on the use of renewable resources. Northern wood is the world’s best renewable raw material and the core of our business. We ensure that the wood we use comes from sustainably managed forests that grow more than they are used. Our parent company is owned by around 100,000 Finnish forest owners and most of the wood we source comes from our owner-members’ forests. Forests, whose well-being is taken care of from one generation to another. It creates a strong foundation for our profitable and responsible business.

Products and new innovations Our carbon storing and recyclable products made from renewable raw materials offer sustainable solutions for global challenges. Our markets are global. We aim to provide our customers with a first-class experience through close cooperation and with the best digital tools. We focus on market-based product development by expanding our current product portfolio and investing in new business opportunities through our innovation company Metsä Spring, for example.

Competitive production As a result of systematic investments, our production units are cutting edge of the industry, be the measure environmental performance, energy efficiency or profitability. Metsä Group’s objective is to have fossil free production by the year 2030. We invest in mills and world class resource efficiency. We develop our operations efficiently all business areas together as a unified Group.

PeopleOur operations are based on continuous improvement, which gives our personnel the opportunity to increase their competence and discover new strengths. The majority of our personnel’s development is made up of on-the-job learning, which we support through job rotation and encouraging multiple skill sets. Good leadership is the cornerstone of our success.

To be the preferred partner in developingsustainable business.

OUR VISIONAdvancing bioeconomy and circular economy by efficiently processing northern wood into first-class products.

OUR PURPOSEReliability CooperationRenewalResponsible profitability

OUR VALUES

SERV

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CURRENT PRODUCTS & NEW INNOVATIO

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PROCESSES PEOPLE

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DIGITALISATIO

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Increasing the amount of carbon stored in forests• Our objective is to increase the area of regeneration

and management of young stands by 30% from the 2018 level and increase the amount of products storing carbon.

Safeguarding biodiversity• Our objective is to increase the amount of decayed

wood by which we mean leaving high biodiversity stumps and retention trees in regeneration logging sites and thinnings.

Responsible corporate culture• Our objective is that the result of the ethics

barometer is 100%.

Accident free work environment• Our objective is to have zero workplace

accidents.

Fossil free raw materials• Our objective is to have fossil free raw

materials and packaging materials.

Sustainable supply chain• Our objective is that 100% of our suppliers

are sustainable.

• Our objective is that 100% of our raw materials are traceable.

Fossil free mills• Our objective is to produce zero fossil

CO2 emissions.

Resource efficient production• Our objective is to utilise our production

side streams by 100%.

• Our objective is to decrease the use of process water by 25% from the 2018 level.

We bring the forest to you

We work for a better climate and environment

We offer sustainable choices

We create well-being

Sustainability is part of everything we do. The foundation of our sustainability work consists of four themes covering all our operations. With the strong commitment to our strategic sustainability 2030 objectives we are building a path to a climate neutral society. Our sustainability work supports reaching the global Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) set by the United Nations.

Strategic sustainability 2030 objectives

98

Renewable products are a solution Our products and services respond to both global challenges and people’s everyday needs. The underlying megatrends provide us with good opportunities for development.

Urbanisation and climate change create demand for wood construction in which our various wood products – including laminated veneer lumber (LVL), sawn timber and plywoods – offer a carbon-storing and ecological alternative to other construction materials.

Population growth, the rise in living standards and increased need for hygiene require an increasing amount of better solutions for consumers’ everyday life. Our paperboards as well as tissue and greaseproof papers provide high-quality and

environmentally friendly options for many daily situations.

Digitalisation has made forest ownership and management easier than ever before.

We know northern wood and its origin like the backs of our hands. We know how to make high-quality bioproducts out of it with the best available technology. We develop our operations with our partners continuously, so that we can continue to produce and provide first-rate products and services in the future, too. We also want to find new innovative ways of using wood. Textile fibres and novel packaging materials made from wood fibre are just some of the examples representing our future business opportunities.

A forerunner in forest management services

Forest management and the sustainable use of forests are long-term activities, continuing from one generation to another. When managed responsibly, forests grow well, remain robust and act as carbon sinks.

Our parent company Metsäliitto is a cooperative owned by roughly 100,000 Finnish forest owners. Our comprehensive forest management services are at a forest owner’s disposal during all phases of their forest’s development. Our range includes high-quality, Finnish seedlings and seeds for establishing a new forest, seedling stand management, harvesting and fertilising. We are experts both in

continuous cover forestry and the growing of a forest with an even age structure.

With the help of our services, forest owners are able to increase the value of their forest assets, be it economic values, natural values or both. New digital opportunities will continue to improve and expand forest owners’ services. In 2020, 50 per cent of Metsä Group’s wood trades and 56 per cent of its forest service sales were made digitally.

With digitalisation, we can serve forest owners even better and in more diverse ways.

1110

Wood products with industrial efficiency

Premium pulp serves as raw material for many bioproducts

We focus on industrial-scale wood products: birch and spruce plywood; Kerto® LVL as well as spruce and pine sawn timber and timber upgrades. The most important applications of wood products are in construction, furnitures, packaging and transport industries, which are all future business growing alongside urbanisation and the growth of e-commerce.

We process the best parts of a tree to wood products: every log is optimised with perfect efficiency, so that the high-quality wood raw material can be utilised in the best possible way. For the most part, our sawn timber products end up in the use of industrial planing, construction industry as well as the door and window industry. Our engineered wood products have excellent strength and stiffness properties, and therefore they perform very well in applications demanding high strength and rigidity.

Metsä Group is Finland’s biggest producer of sawn timber and LVL. We manufacture wood products with industrial efficiency and with decades of experience. Wood products are a solution to the environmental challenges faced by the building industry: they reduce the carbon footprint of buildings and transport and also store carbon, keeping it out of the atmosphere.

Wood construction creates demand for our renewable wood products.

Population growth is increasing the demand for our environmentally friendly wood-based products.

In pulp products, we specialise in high-quality softwood and harwood pulp made from northern wood. Our bleached pulps are used as raw material in paperboards, tissue and printing papers as well as in many speciality products.

Some of the pulp we produce ends up in our own paperboard and tissue paper products, but the majority is sold on the global markets. Pulp is one of Finland’s most important export items, and Metsä Group is indeed the world’s biggest producer of softwood market pulp.

Sustainably produced and certified pulp products are in high demand, because renewable wood fibre offers a responsible alternative to fossil-based materials. Pulp, and the other bioproducts generated in connection to its production, will also serve as the raw material of many future innovations.

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Lightweight paperboards for sustainable packaging

Cleaner everyday life with tissue and greaseproof papers

As Europe’s leading producer of fresh fibre paperboard, we focus on premium folding boxboards, food service paperboards and white kraftliners. Our lightweight, safe and eco-friendly paperboards are suitable for food, cosmetics, pharmaceutical and electronic appliance packaging, as well as for many retail packaging needs.

For example, the continuously growing food packaging business and the accelerating growth of e-commerce are increasing the demand for safe and recyclable paperboard packages globally. Our customers all around the globe include brand owners, converters and merchants who value sustainability and the functional properties of our paperboards.

Our product range is complemented with a variety of expert services including packaging analysis and design, technical service and R&D. Our common goal is to create better consumer experiences with a lower environmental impact.

Rising living standards and urbanisation are increasing the consumption of packaged goods.

Our tissue and greaseproof papers are an important part of the everyday life of millions of people. We are one of the leading tissue paper suppliers in Europe to households and professionals and one of the leading greaseproof paper producers globally. Our product development is guided by a deep understanding of our customers’ needs, be they consumers, wholesalers or retailers.

Our well-known consumer brands – Lambi, Serla, Tento and Mola – offer a comprehensive range of toilet papers, household towels and paper handkerchiefs for personal hygiene and household cleaning needs. Our greaseproof papers sold under the SAGA brand are designed for cooking and baking at home and in large professional kitchens and bakeries. Outside Finland, greaseproof papers are sold for further processing in big reels.

Our Katrin brand, aimed for professional sector, offers an extensive range of products suitable for hygiene and cleaning, including hand towels, toilet papers, facial tissues, paper napkins, industrial wipes, dispensers and soaps. You can discover these products in any public space – from shopping centres to hospitals – across Europe.

Our tissue papers promote good hand hygiene.

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A sustainably managed forest stores carbon and secures biodiversity

Forests grow and serve as carbon sinks when the amount of wood in forests increases. Trees bind carbon dioxide as they grow, so the more forests grow, the more efficient they are in mitigating climate change. We purchase the wood we use from sustainably managed regions of northern wood, where forests grow more than they are used. Most of the wood we use comes from Finland, known as a forerunner of sustainable forest management.

Sustainable forestry safeguards biodiversity and allows the recreational use of the very same forests whose trees are used as raw material for bioproducts. Biodiversity is secured, for example, through establishing protected areas and preserving valuable habitats, as well as by leaving retention trees, high stumps and protective thickets in the forests and by sparing existing decaying trees.

We always know the origin of the wood. 87 per cent of the wood we use is certified either according to the PEFC™ and/or the FSC® system. Forest certification guarantees that the forest will be managed sustainably. It serves as proof of responsible operations throughout the value chain for both the forest owner and the customer.

We purchase wood responsibly

100%of the used wood is traceable

87%of the used wood is certified

The amount of wood in Finnish forests increases every yearSource: Natural Resources Institute Finland (Luke)

FSC-license number FSC-C014476.

Use of wood

60%

Other drain

13%

Annual growth

108 million m3

Volume of growing stock 2.5 billion m3

202020152005 201020001990 1995

billion m3

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2

0.5

2.5

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27% of annual growth remains in forests, increasing the volume of growing stock.

Stemwood of logging residues left in the forests plus naturally dead stemwood.

Wood is used for e.g. construction, pulp, paperboard, tissue and grease -proof paper products and for new bioproducts.

The figures are Luke’s preliminary data for 2020.

Surplus of growth

27%

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Making the most of wood

Northern wood is an excellent renewable raw material that can be used in addition to current wood products in a number of new high value-added products. Metsä Group utilises northern wood as efficiently and wisely as possible, so that every part of the wood can be used in the best possible way. Our mills utilize closed cycles, and the side streams of our production are used efficiently. We are constantly

looking for new ways to make even better use of side streams. Circular economy works best in industrial ecosystems, where someone’s waste can be a valuable raw material for another. Ecosystems create the conditions for exploiting wood in new, innovative ways. It can be used, for example, in textiles, composites and 3D fibre products.

Each part of the wood is used efficiently

The use of a tree in the regeneration felling phase * Further processed by other companies

Branches and top

15%

Pulpwood

25%

Logs

60%

Renewable energy• Biogas • Electricity, heat

Wood products• Sawn timber• Kerto® LVL• Plywood• (Windows, doors)*• (Furniture )*• (Buildings )*• (Vehicles)*

Pulp• Paperboard• Tissue and greaseproof paper• Printing and speciality paper • Textiles• 3D fibre packages• (Biocomposites)*

Other bioproducts • Tall oil, turpentine• Product gas, bioenergy• Sulphuric acid• Methanol• Lignin (in R&D phase) • (Perfumes, paints, tyres)*• (Glues, filler materials)*

PALV

ELUT

NYKYTUOTTEET JA UUDET INNOVAATIO

T

VALIKOIDUT ASIAKASSEGMENTIT

PROSESSIT IHMISET

KILPAILUKYKYINEN TUOTANTO

POHJOINEN PUU

DIGITA

LISAATIO

DAT

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1918

Our business is based on renewable raw materials and recyclable

products in whose production sustainably managed northern

forests and our profound expertise provide competitiveness.

Inputs Group strategy Outputs and impacts 2020

9,20035

employees in 27 countries

production facilities in 8 countries

COMPETENT AND MOTIVATED PERSONNEL:

100,000

50%

owner-members in the cooperative

of the privately owned forests in Finland held by the cooperative members

32.7

79%

100%

87%

wood procuredmillion m3

of wood comes from Finland

traceable wood from sustainable sources

of the used wood from certified sources

SECURE SUPPLY OF RAW MATERIALS:

425

STEADY OUTLOOK FOR THE FUTURE:

2,005

57.2%

4.3%5,303

Liquidity EUR million Equity ratio Net gearing Capital employed EUR million

EUR million in investments and R&D

Creating value

SUSTAINABLE FOREST MANAGEMENT:

• We promote sustainable forest management and support the growth of forests. We use trees from forests that grow more than they are used. We plant four seedlings per each harvested tree in regeneration fellings. We deliver approximately 33 million seedlings to forest owners annually.

• High biodiversity stumps are left in 84% of thinning and regeneration fellings, retention trees in 94% of regeneration fellings.

• We aim to increase the proportion of mixed forests.

• Forests act as carbon sinks as they store carbon dioxide while growing.

REPLACING FOSSIL RESOURCES:

• The majority of our products can replace the use of fossil resources.

• We utilise all resources efficiently. Each part of the wood is used for the highest added value products.

• 90% of the fuels used in production are renewable and our aim is to be fossil free by 2030.

• We produce over 15% of the renewable energy in Finland.

NATIONAL VALUE:

• The value of exports from Metsä Group’s Finnish mills is EUR 2.8 billion, equivalent to about 5% of Finnish exports.

• EUR 66.6 million paid as corporate income and property taxes.

SECURE AND LONG-TERM JOBS:

• In Finland, Metsä Group’s operations create up to 15,000* jobs indirectly around the country. The impact is realised especially in rural areas.

• 92% of employees have a permanent contract.

• On average, employees have worked for Metsä Group for 15.8 years.

• Retention rate of employees is 97.3%.

WELFARE TO STAKEHOLDERS:

• EUR 615 million paid as salaries and benefits.

• EUR 510 million to Finnish forest-owners from wood sales.

• EUR 395 million to harvesting, transportation and forest management entrepreneurs.

• EUR 66 million paid as interests to Metsäliitto Cooperative’s owner-members.

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* According to Finnish Forest Industries Federation

20

An inspiring and influential workplace of the future

Metsä is a close-knit group of enthusiastic professionals who play a key role in combating climate change.

Our responsible corporate culture creates a safe working environment for all of us. We invest in good leadership and support for personal career development. Metsä offers a lot in the way of different careers!

Continuous development and renewal is important – whether it concerns technology,

products or ways of working. We also find it important that people get inspired by their work and yearn to learn new things.

Ensuring the sustainable growth of forests and safeguarding their biodiversity, environmentally efficient mills, and products that can replace fossil-based materials offer us all meaningful work, the impact of which will be carried far into the future. We will always have our targets set high and our feet firmly planted in Finnish forests.

We take responsibility for the results of our work and a great team spirit at Metsä!

PUBLISHED BYMetsä GroupThese publications are available online atwww.metsagroup.com

Please email any feedback to communications@metsagroup.com

or communicate it to us via social media@MetsaGroup

Metsä Group Annual Review 2020

Metsä Group Brochure2020

Metsä Board Annual Report2020

Metsä Group Sustainability Report 2020

METSÄ GROUP

Wood supply and forest services

METSÄ WOODWood products

METSÄ FIBREPulp and sawn timber

METSÄ BOARDPaperboard

METSÄ TISSUE Tissue and greaseproof papers

Metsäliitto Cooperative 100%

Metsäliitto Cooperative 100%

Metsäliitto Cooperative 50.1%Metsä Board 24.9%Itochu Corporation 25.0%

Metsäliitto Cooperative 48% (67% of votes)Listed on Nasdaq Helsinki

Metsäliitto Cooperative 100%

Owned by approximately 100,000 Finnish forest-owners

Sales*

EUR 5.1 billion

Personnel

9,200

HOLDING HOLDING HOLDING HOLDING HOLDING

SALESEUR 1.8 billion

SALESEUR 0.4 billion

SALESEUR 1.8 billion

SALESEUR 1.9 billion

SALES EUR 1.0 billion

PERSONNEL840

PERSONNEL1,600

PERSONNEL1,300

PERSONNEL2,400

PERSONNEL 2,500

METSÄ SPRING innovation company * External sales

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Metsä Group Annual Review 2020

Metsä BoardAnnual Report 2020

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Metsä GroupBrochure 2020

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Metsä GroupSustainability Report 2020

Your partner insustainable growth

METSÄ GROUP P.O. Box 10FI–02020 Metsä, FinlandVisiting address: Revontulenpuisto 2 A 02100 Espoo, Finland Tel. +358 10 4601www.metsagroup.com

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The cover material of these reports is manufactured at the Kyro board mill. The high-yield pulp in the middle layer of the folding boxboard was produced at Joutseno BCTMP pulp mill and the chemical pulp used in the top and reverse layers is from Äänekoski bioproduct mill. The coated folding boxboard made of pure fresh fibres suits well for packaging and for graphical end uses.