A strong euro, Russian wood duties and increased costs were cited as reasons for the quarterly financial results of leading Finnish paper makers Stora Enso and UPM-Kymmene.
Stora Enso's first-quarter operating profit, excluding one-off items, has halved from a year ago to 140.1 million euros, while magazine paper maker UPM's operating profit, excluding one-off intems, fell 15 percent to 188 million euros.
Both companies are focusing on cutting costs and oversupply on the market in an attempt to reverse their fortunes.