Forchem strengthens its position in Europe

Forchem Oy with its Rauma, Finland based tall oil refinery, the largest dry –distillation unit in the world, was able to secure a leading position as a tall oil rosin supplier in Europe last year – despite the labour dispute in the paper and pulp industry. The company’s financial result was positive, and the annual production capacity rose to 175,000 tonnes.

“So far we have met all the targets the investors set us when the plant was started up in autumn 2002. At the moment we are very strong in the European markets, which is of utmost importance if we are to outdo the international competition,” says President and CEO Martti Fredrikson, Forchem Oy.

“The global rosin markets have undergone major structural changes, a trend of which Forchem, too, has been part. The world’s largest producer of natural rosins is China, which also dominates the European markets. However, Forchem has become by far the largest European tall oil rosin supplier.

“Strong demand for natural resins within China has increased the import prices for this product in Europe, which has helped Forchem to establish its role as a leading European tall oil rosin producer. For us, this has opened up excellent opportunities for seeking synergies with customers to improve our products, and we have actually been very successful in this.

“We drew full benefit from the annual maintenance shutdown in April to improve the stability and safety of the production process and increase the yield and consistent quality of our products.

“The quality of crude tall oil, our basic raw material, is quite variable and has created a few challenges. By updating the control system – the most advanced of its kind – to the latest version and by installing a new real-time total analysis system in the production line, we can now markedly stabilize the hole fractionation process thus improving the consistency of product quality. The online analysis system in question uses a whole new principle and is based on our own innovation and research. We are also in the process of patenting it.

“A major upcoming project will be the construction of a sterol plant as an annex to the tall oil fractionation plant. Thanks to these recent high-tech modifications in production control and digital safety logic system, the conditions are ripe for carrying out this further investment,” says Fredrikson.

For more information, please contact:
Martti Fredrikson, CEO
+358 50 3104 400