Paper strike in Finland threatens Swedish magazines: "Very serious"

During the autumn of 2021, paper shortages have affected deliveries and increased prices throughout Europe, and now the crisis is worsening.

The Finnish paper company UPM's four mills went on strike on the first of January.

The company delivers about half of the paper that Swedish magazines use.

- If there is no paper to print on, there is none.

This points to a major problem: paper shortages, says Kerstin Neld, CEO of Sveriges Tidskrifter.

"Can have serious consequences"

She says that the magazines tried to ship out as much paper as possible before the turn of the year, but that the autumn paper shortage made this difficult because demand was unusually high throughout Europe.

- The situation has been problematic even before the strike, so this can probably have quite serious consequences, says Kerstin Neld.

In the worst case, consumers are affected because editions cannot be printed.

Now the publishers are working full time to avoid this.

Svenska Tidskrifter is now conducting a survey among its 380 members to get a better picture of how Swedish magazines and periodicals are affected by the strike.

The strike is currently expected to last until January 22.

If the parties do not agree, it can be extended.