Korsnäs has previously been a major forest owner. However, we have gradually sold our land, primarily to Bergvik Skog and Sveaskog, which are Sweden’s two largest forest owners, based on cutting volume.
Today, Korsnäs manages over 300,000 hectares of forest for Bergvik Skog. The partnership includes a long-term wood contract with purchases of cutting rights. This secures a significant portion of Korsnäs’ wood needs. We can also trade the cutting rights with other forestry companies and sawmills in order to acquire the raw materials Korsnäs needs.
Korsnäs also manages forest for many small, private owners, buying wood from them in the form of cutting rights and wood the owners have cut themselves. In a variety of ways, we try to adapt our forestry activities to the overall idea of natural materials cycles, from making use of solar energy to ensuring that we know exactly where the raw materials originate.
In addition, Korsnäs has a wood-buying subsidiary in Latvia, focusing chiefly on birch, which is in short supply in Sweden. Besides wood buying, the company operates two fuel pellet production facilities.
Photosynthesis is the foundation for efforts to harmonize the activities of the forest industry with natural materials cycles. It is photosynthesis that makes the forest industry’s raw materials renewable.
Since forest growth is part of a cycle of materials in which carbon dioxide released by decay or combustion is rapidly reabsorbed by the growing biomass, using forest products in principle makes no net contribution of carbon dioxide to the atmosphere. For climatic reasons, then, it is important to make good use of forested land and ensure that the forests grow well. Because of photosynthesis, biomass is a sustainable alternative to fossil fuels in the production of energy.