Stora Enso's Annual Report 2009 is published today as PDF documents. Stora Enso's Annual Report is comprised of three separate reports: Stora Enso 2009, Financial Performance 2009 and Sustainability Performance 2009.

Stora Enso 2009 is available in English, Finnish and Swedish. Financial Performance 2009 and Sustainability Performance 2009 are available in English. All three reports can be downloaded at the Group's website at www.storaenso.com/annualreport.

The printed Annual Report will be published during the week commencing Monday 8 March 2010. Stora Enso 2009 will be distributed to those shareholders in Finland and Sweden who have so requested, and to all registered ADR holders. Printed copies of all the reports can be ordered at www.storaenso.com/order or by sending an e-mail to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

All of these documents are available on the Group's website.

For further information, please contact:
Sanna Lahti, Director, Financial and Change Communications, tel. +358 2046 21251

www.storaenso.com
www.storaenso.com/investors

Stora Enso is the world leader in forest industry sustainability. We offer our customers solutions based on renewable raw materials. Our products provide a climate-friendly alternative to many non-renewable materials, and have a smaller carbon footprint. Stora Enso is listed in the Dow Jones Sustainability Index and
the FTSE4Good Index. Stora Enso employs some 27 000 people worldwide, and our sales in 2009 amounted to EUR 8.9 billion. Stora Enso shares are listed on NASDAQ OMX Helsinki (STEAV, STERV) and Stockholm (STE A, STE R). In addition, the shares are traded in the USA as ADRs (SEOAY) in the International OTCQX over-the-counter market.

STORA ENSO OYJ

Jari Suvanto Ulla Paajanen-Sainio

Attachments:
stora enso_eng_sustainability_performance_2009.pdf
stora enso_eng_corporate governance 2009.pdf
stora enso_eng_financial_performance_2009.pdf
stora enso_eng_parent company financial statements_2009.pdf
stora_enso_2009_eng.pdf

AbitibiBowater today filed a Notice of Arbitration under the North American Free Trade Agreement ("NAFTA") with regards to the expropriation of its assets and rights in Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada. The Company contends that the provincial government's enactment in December 2008 of Bill 75, which expropriates an extensive array of the Company's rights and assets, was arbitrary, discriminatory and illegal under international law.

The claim seeks direct compensation for damages of approximately C$500 million, plus additional costs and relief deemed just and appropriate by the Arbitral Tribunal. This is one of the largest claims ever filed against Canada under NAFTA. Under international law, the Canadian Federal Government is responsible for the actions of Newfoundland and Labrador in violation of the investment protection provisions of NAFTA.

Read the full official release here

ÅF has been awarded with a paper machine speed increase study for a classified client. The customer requested a substantial increase of the production speed of more than 20%.

ÅF Materials Technology put together a tailor made team for these specific customer needs. Depending on the findings, the progressing results and the specific customer requests, the scope and techniques are evolving to fit into the specific customer application.

This study is a typical ÅF assignment as it involves several of ÅF's highly specialized competences. The ÅF-Group is autonomous and unique as it is able to offer independent packages to its customers.

The engineers perform inspections, thickness measurements and non destructive testing to find weak points in the systems. Moreover, they carry out Vibration measurements and studies, Fatigue and strength calculations, as well as Metallographic analyses.

ÅF's dedicated Paper and Board expert team is one of the pulp and paper industry's most respected and preferred supplier of strategy consulting and engineering for all kinds of pulp & paper mill projects globally. As part of the ÅF group of consulting companies, they draw from over 100 years of experience and more than 4400 consultants worldwide supplying expertise to the whole pulp and paper making related projects.

ÅF is an engineering company based out of Stockholm, Sweden with offices in 19 countries all over the world and offers services in all industrial categories; e.g., pulp & paper, environment, energy, food, pharmaceutical, oil, automation, IT.

For more information please contact:-

Tomas Anderson
Manager Paper & Board
Direct: +46 (0)10 505 95 97

This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Ashland Aqualon Functional Ingredients, a commercial unit of Ashland Inc. (NYSE: ASH), is increasing the price of its Natrosol® hydroxyethylcellulose products by 8 percent effective March 1, or as contracts allow.

The price increase is necessary to offset the recent cost increases of key raw materials used to manufacture hydroxyethylcellulose. Responding to changing market conditions allows Ashland to continue to invest in new capacity and product innovation.

Ashland Aqualon Functional Ingredients is the global leader in the production of products that manage the physical properties of aqueous and non-aqueous systems. Our products perform in a variety of applications including thickening and rheology control, water retention, adhesive strength, binding power, film formation, conditioning and deposition, colloid stabilization, suspending, and emulsifying action.

Ashland Inc. (NYSE: ASH) provides specialty chemical products, services and solutions for many of the world's most essential industries. Serving customers in more than 100 countries, it operates through five commercial units: Ashland Aqualon Functional Ingredients, Ashland Hercules Water Technologies, Ashland Performance Materials, Ashland Consumer Markets (Valvoline) and Ashland Distribution. To learn more about Ashland, visit www.ashland.com

Natrosol® Registered trademark, Ashland or its subsidiaries

CEO Perspectives in the Forest, paper & packaging industry worldwide - 2010 Edition

PricewaterhouseCoopers recently conducted its third series of in-depth interviews with CEOs in the Forest, Paper and Packaging (FPP) industry. We interviewed 33 executives from leading companies around the world. The objective, as with the first two sets of interviews in 2006 and 2007, was to learn more about executives' opinions of the state of the industry, the key issues it faces and its future direction.

Our last edition of CEO Perspectives grappled with major changes in the world in which the FPP industry operates. The years 2008 and 2009 saw global credit markets, and then the world economy, go into freefall. The crisis exacerbated existing declines in some markets and precipitated steep drops in demand in many others, particularly in mature markets.

It has also highlighted the split between mature and emerging markets; China and India experienced much shorter and less severe shocks than did Western Europe and North America. So far, the FPP industry has seen relatively few business failures, even in struggling markets – but very few companies can point to real successes either. So how will the industry reshape itself to meet future challenges? Our study takes a look at the types of transformation needed in the industry, and elaborates on four key trends in the following discussion.

To read the full article hit the banner.

Pöyry has been awarded a contract for developing a basic engineering package and supplying related services for Borealis AG's semi-commercial catalyst plant located in Linz, Austria. The contract value is not disclosed. The total investment cost for the whole plant is approximately EUR 75 million.

The services will be completed by the end of July 2010. This assignment supports Pöyry's position as a provider of comprehensive engineering and project services to the chemical and process industries.

Borealis is a leading provider of chemical and innovative plastics solutions that create value for society. With sales of EUR 6.6 billion in 2008, customers in over 120 countries, and 5400 employees worldwide, Borealis is headquartered in Vienna, Austria, and has production locations, innovation centres and customer service centres across Europe and the Americas. Through Borouge, a joint venture between Borealis and the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC), the company's footprint reaches out to the Middle East, Asia Pacific, the Indian sub-continent and Africa. Building on the unique Borstar® technology and their experience in polyolefins for more than 50 years Borealis and Borouge are leading provider of innovative plastics solutions.

Pöyry supports the aims of Borealis in developing sustainable solutions in close co-operation.

Additional information by:
Jouni Takakarhu, President, Business Area Chemicals, Industry business group
tel. +358 10 33 21157

UPM has launched two new websites to promote its Biofore message to its stakeholders. The sites www.upmbiofore.com and www.upmcarbonlife.com offer enhanced applications as well as highlight business cases with environmental advantages.

Full story available here....>

Stora Enso to centralise the use of recovered fibre-based packaging in Finland at Pori

Closure of recycling plant at Varkaus and core plant at Pori planned - temporary newsprint layoff plan at Varkaus

Stora Enso is planning to centralise the use of recovered fibre-based packaging in Finland at the Corenso Pori coreboard mill. A recycling plant investment at the Pori coreboard mill will enable all the used packaging collected from households in Finland to be utilised at Pori. This includes used beverage cartons collected in Finland. Permanent closure of the recycling plant at Varkaus at the end of the third quarter of 2010 is planned. The Ecogas gasification plant associated with the Varkaus recycling plant will continue to operate. The Varkaus recycling plant employs 15 people.

As a part of the restructuring, Stora Enso's wholly-owned subsidiary Corenso also plans to centralise core production in Finland at Loviisa and Imatra, and permanently close down the core plant at Pori in the third quarter of 2010. Demand for cores has drastically decreased in Finland in recent years due to paper machine shutdowns and production curtailments. The Pori core plant employs 15 people.

"Recycling recovered fibre-based packaging at the same site as a board machine using the material is logistically efficient and reduces costs significantly. The plan to centralise core production at Loviisa and Imatra would also yield significant cost savings and improve Corenso's operating conditions in difficult and uncertain markets," says Sampo Antti, head of the Corenso business unit, explaining the plans.
There are no major financial provisions related to these measures.

Varkaus newsprint production curtailed until further notice Stora Enso plans to curtail newsprint production on Varkaus paper machine 2 (PM2) with temporary lay-offs until further notice due to weak market conditions. As a part of the plan, newsprint production at Varkaus would be concentrated on PM 4, improving its operating rates. The total number of employees affected by the co-determination negotiations concerning temporary lay-offs is around 90.

The plans are subject to co-determination negotiations with the employee representatives. Any decision on closures and other measures will be taken later when the co-determination negotiations concerning the units have been undertaken and concluded as required.

For further information, please contact:
Concerning Varkaus newsprint production curtailment: Reino Panula, Varkaus Mill
Manager, tel. +358 2046 32740
Concerning Corenso: Sampo Antti, Senior Vice President, Corenso Business Unit,
tel. +358 40 589 2409
Päivi Kauhanen, Director, Communications in Finland, tel. +358 2046 21292

Södra Odlarna, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Södra, has started a project to develop a mechanical method for protecting plants against pine weevil infestation. The objective is chemical-free forest regeneration.

The Södra Odlarna board recently resolved to develop a proprietary - and non-toxic - method of protecting forest plants against pine weevil infestation. The project will initially run for two years and Andreas Alvehus has been employed as full-time project leader. Andreas was previously head of forest conservation in Tingsryd, Småland. The project is being jointly run by Södra Odlarna and Södra Skog.

"We are working on a broad and open-ended basis and are looking at the effect of the protection itself as well as the entire chain from seedling to planting and degradability of the protection device. Two experienced pine-weevil researchers are involved in the project and we are working with the university and specialists in the fields of material, biology and mechanisation," says Andreas Alvehus.
"Putting such an effort into mechanical protection is natural given Södra's FSC membership and our ambition to run sustainable and ecofriendly forestry," says Göran Örlander, Södra's chief forester.

The project will be evaluated in two years, and plans made to scale it up. If the project succeeds, it will be at least three or four years before a fully-functional and cost-effective mechanical plant protection device has been field-tested and can be made available for Södra members.

Pine weevil infestation is by far the biggest cause of damage to forest plants in southern Sweden, causing substantial damage to planted seedlings each year. An average of 80 per cent of plants not protected against the pine weevil die. Some 90 per cent of plants sold in Götaland are currently treated with chemical insecticide.

For further information, please contact:
Andreas Alvehus, Project manager mechanical plant protection, +46 346 29605
Per Braconier, Director of communications, +46 70 534 5166
Göran Örlander, Chief forester, +46 470 89362

NewPage announced results of operations for the fourth quarter and full year today. It is clear that the company has very serious financial issues, but this does not make NewPage unique in our industry. We won't speak directly to the financials; that is not our area of expertise.

Downtime Reported: Other than the financials, there were a few other items of interest. The company reported that it took 515,000 tons of market related downtime in 2009. See below.

During 2009, we took approximately 515,000 tons of market-related downtime that included the indefinite shutdown of two paper machines one in Rumford, Maine and one in Whiting, Wisconsin," said Suwyn. "We believe inventories have now essentially bottomed out through the mill and printer system, and we have seen some rebound in orders over the past couple of months that have allowed us to restart production on these machines. While a couple of months do not make a trend, our customers indicate print advertising appears to be in the early stages of recovery.

It sounds as if the two indefinitely idled machines have re-started, but I don't believe this has been in the news, so perhaps the press release simply refers to the elimination of other market related downtime.

Still on the same subject, we assume that the uncoated free sheet being produced on coated free sheet machines does not count in this 515,000 tons of downtime. We estimate that more than 200,000 tons of this substitute grade was shipped in 2009. Therefore, the actual shortfall in coated demand for NewPage last year might be over 715,000 tons.

Black Liquor: The final black liquor benefit for NewPage was $304 million. According to NewPage the greatest benefactors of this obscene subsidy were the coated paper buyers.

As previously reported, the U.S. Internal Revenue Code allowed a refundable excise tax credit for alternative fuel mixtures produced for sale or for use as a fuel in a trade or business. This credit expired on December 31, 2009. Income recognized for the credit is included in net income (loss) attributable to the company and totaled $90 million for the fourth quarter of 2009 and $304 million for the full year 2009. We believe that generally the industry passed on most of the benefits of the alternative fuel mixture credit to customers in the form of lower sales prices.

There is no factual basis for this NewPage claim. It creates additional credibility problems for the company.

As we have previously discussed, coated producers that did not benefit from the subsidy continued to operate in 2009. If some of these mills had closed due to prices falling below variable costs, at the same time the subsidized producers continued operating, this would have been evidence that at least some of the subsidy was passed on to buyers. Then if prices increased in 2010 after the subsidy expired, this too would have been evidence that buyers benefited from the subsidy. Neither of these events occurred. The NewPage claim is simply not true.

New NewPage President : Tom Curley was announced as the President and CEO of the company earlier this month. NewPage provided Mr. Curley's background in the press release.

Curley holds an associate degree in Aeronautical Engineering from Daniel Webster College in Nashua, New Hampshire, and a Bachelor of Science degree in Industrial Technology from the University of Massachusetts at Lowell. Beginning his career with General Electric Company, he later joined Caterpillar Inc., Cooper Cameron Corporation, and Rolls-Royce plc. During his career, he has progressed through increasingly responsible roles and, prior to joining NewPage, Curley served as president of the Rolls-Royce Energy business.

Anti-Dumping Duties : The trade action (sponsored by NewPage and several partners) against U.S. imports of Chinese and Indonesian coated free sheet "sheets" has generated some activity lately. The Dead Tree Edition reported here that a group of environmental organizations are warning printers away from the Chinese imports. At the same time, a group called Save Printer Jobs is lobbying against the trade action.

The effort to halt Chinese imports did not stop at our border. An announcement was made today that an organization of fine paper producers in Europe has launched a probe against the Chinese for dumping coated paper in Europe. This is going to add to international tensions.

The U.S. coated trade issue was the subject of a detailed report in our December Reel Time. It is a very complicated problem. The Chinese probably are dumping paper unfairly and illegally. On the other hand, the black liquor subsidy, and numerous other business subsidies, take away our right to complain.