FollaCell is a paper mill located in the village of

Follafoss Follafoss is a village in Steinkjer Municipality in Trøndelag county, Norway. The village lies on the northern shore of the Beitstadfjorden, about halfway between the east and west end of the fjord. Follafoss village is about southwest of the v ...

Steinkjer Municipality or is a municipality in Trøndelag Counties of Norway, county, Norway. It is part of the Innherad Districts of Norway, region. The administrative centre of the municipality is the Steinkjer (town), town of Steinkjer which is located on the inne ...

Trøndelag Trøndelag (; or is a county and coextensive with the Trøndelag region (also known as ''Midt-Norge'' or ''Midt-Noreg,'' "Mid-Norway") in the central part of Norway. It was created in 1687, then named Trondhjem County (); in 1804 the county was ...

county,

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the archipelago of Svalbard also form part of the Kingdom of ...

. The mill produces 130,000 tonnes of CTMP

pulp Pulp may refer to: * Pulp (fruit), the inner flesh of fruit * Pulp (band), an English rock band Engineering * Pulp (paper), the fibrous material used to make paper * Dissolving pulp, highly purified cellulose used in fibre and film manufacture ...

per year, and is owned by

Mayr-Melnhof Mayr-Melnhof Karton AG is a manufacturer in the paper and packaging industry, based in Vienna, Austria. The company is 65% family owned, with the rest free-float, and is listed on the Vienna Stock Exchange (Wiener Börse). Mayr-Melnhof packaging ...

History

Folla Bruk AS traditionally owned of land in the old

Verran Municipality Verran is a former municipality in Trøndelag county, Norway. The municipality existed from 1901 until its dissolution in 2020 when it was divided between Steinkjer Municipality and Indre Fosen Municipality. It was part of the Innherred region ...

, including of productive forest. A pulp mill was established at Follafoss in 1908. In 1919, the company was bought by

Nord-Trøndelag County Municipality Nord-Trøndelag County Municipality () was the regional governing administration of the old Nord-Trøndelag county in Norway. The county municipality was established in its current form on 1 January 1976 when the law was changed to allow elected c ...

. In 1982, the company was sold cheaply to

Bjørn Lyng Bjørn Lyng (8 July 1925 – 12 October 2006) was a Norwegian businessman, investor and industrialist. He was the founder of Lyng Gruppen AS, a holding company with over twenty subsidiaries. He is also associated with his development of vaca ...

. In 1988, the plant was sold to

Norske Skog Norske Skog ASA, formerly Norske Skogindustrier ASA, which translates as ''Norwegian Forest Industries'', is a Norwegian pulp and paper company established in 1962. The company has long been one of the world's leading manufacturers of newsprint ...

. Norske Skog sold the plant to

Södra Södra Skogsägarna, trading as Södra, is a forestry cooperative based in Växjö, Sweden. More than 52,000 forest owners in southern Sweden are members of the economic association that is Södra. They own just over half of all privately owned f ...

in 2000. The current plant was taken into use 1984. In 2007, the power company

Nord-Trøndelag Elektrisitetsverk Nord-Trøndelag Elektrisitetsverk or NTE is a power company serving northern Trøndelag county in Norway and owned by the local governments of 19 municipalities that it serves. NTE is one of the largest producers of electricity in Norway, with an ...

, owned by Nord-Trøndelag County Municipality, was investigated by the

EFTA Surveillance Authority The EFTA Surveillance Authority (ESA) monitors compliance with the Agreement on the European Economic Area (EEA) in Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway (the EEA EFTA States). ESA operates independently of the States and safeguards the rights of ind ...

(ESA) for illegal subsidizing Södra Cell Folla with cheap electricity. In 2010, ESA concluded that although there had been given selective subsidies, it was not illegal. On August 28, 2012, Södra announced that it was ending its ownership and involvement with Södra Cell Folla. On 20 December 2012 it was announced that the Austria's Mayr-Melnhof has signed a Letter of Intent with Södra where they intend to buy 100% of the stocks in Södra Cell Folla AS and restart the factory as soon as possible during 1st quarter of 2013.

References

{{Norske Skog Pulp and paper mills in Norway Manufacturing companies of Norway Companies based in Trøndelag Manufacturing companies established in 1908 1908 establishments in Norway Norske Skog Steinkjer Trøndelag County Municipality