Forecasts expect a pick up in Western economies over 2002, said chief executive officer Jukka Hrml. But advertising volumes remain weak and there are no signs of a sustained improvement in the market for graphic papers.

Sales of newsprint fell 17% in a year to 253m. Fine papers dropped 19% to 508m but packaging boards went up 8% to 471m.

Hrml said the added pressure of imported coated papers made the market more challenging in the US than in Europe.

Overall sales for the quarter fell just over 33m to 1.98bn. The Finnish firm totalled 8.3bn of sales in 2001.