Lorry and truck drivers in the country went on strike yesterday (2 March), with further strikes set to go ahead later today.
UPM said the strikes would stop transportation of raw materials to its mills and "seriously impede" the transportation of products from mills to its customers.
It claimed that the Finnish Transport Workers' Union strike would have an immediate impact on the operations of all its Finnish mills, which account for nearly half of its entire capacity.
If the strike expands as expected to include the stevedores (dock labourers) of the Finnish ports tomorrow morning, this would, in effect, shut down all of the company's paper machines in Finland within days.
The whole Finnish forest industry could then lose around €30m (£27m) per day in export revenues and UPM added that the financial impact of the strike in its results is estimated to exceed €3m per day.
Will Oldham, UPM general manager, told PrintWeek that currently only the transport drivers are on strike, although negotiations aimed at early return to work are continuing.
He said: "Similarly, negotiations with the stevedores continue, but the expectation is that they will strike from this evening.
"The duration of any strike is unknown, but as the impact on the whole Finnish economy will be very significant there will be every political measure taken to ensure a quick resolution.
"In the meantime, we will use both UK stocks and UPM mills outside Finland to minimise disruption to customers; we are talking with every potentially affected customer to assess the best options for their particular requirements."
Päivi Kauhanen, Stora Enso director of communications in Finland, said all three strikes would affect the company, but the stevedores' strike would have the most impact on its business.
She said: "If the strike goes ahead tomorrow, it is estimated that we will have to close down all of our Finnish mills for a number of days. However, this will be for just for a number of days, rather than weeks."
Negotiations for collective agreements are ongoing between employers' representatives and the Finnish Transport Workers' Union.
