New status for Bioproducts

Its portfolio of chemical and energy solutions, as well as dissolving pulp, will continue to be produced by other business areas including Södra Cell. However the responsibility for marketing, sales and logistics will reside with Södra Bioproducts as a business entity. 

Executive Vice President Södra Bioproducts, Johannes Bogren has led Södra’s drive to make the most of every tree from the outset. “With the exception of dissolving pulp, the product offerings from Södra Bioproducts are derived as side streams of existing processes within Södra Group,” he says. “Our raw material basket is the biomass from our members’ forests. As we innovate and expand our portfolio, every tonne of woodpulp produced for paper, tissue and packaging applications, for example, is accompanied by ever more biofuels, biomaterials, electricity, district heating and biochemicals. As such bioproducts contribute to the responsible use of our raw materials and contributes to green transition.”

The establishment of a new business area sharpens the focus on bioproducts, but as Henrik Wettergren, Vice President of Södra Cell International, points out, pulp and bioproducts are intertwined. “It is important to note that bioproducts depend on pulp production, sawn timber production and forest activities. We are keen to innovate and find new markets for new products such as lignin but we remain dedicated to serving the pulp market at the same time.” 

Bogren: “As a stand-alone business area we have a mandate to be commercially independent, transparent in our financial reporting and seek opportunities with ever-more vigour. But the investments within the wider group – the condensing turbine at Mörrum with its consequent significant rise in energy production, the major lignin plans for Mönsterås and tannin plans for Värö – are of course what create our opportunities.

“It is time to stand alone but within a strongly connected, mutually supportive and strategically focused group. At Södra Bioproducts we have some products in which we are already market leader and others where we are taking our first steps. The common theme is to offer alternatives to fossil-based raw materials and place ourselves at the epicentre of the green transition.”