Norske Skog falls sharply after notification of a shutdown

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The war in Ukraine has created massive uncertainty in the financial markets around the world. In both Asia and the USA, the unrest has led to high volatility and stock market declines, but the fall has undoubtedly been greatest in Europe.

On the Oslo Stock Exchange, the main index defied the rest of the world and received a strong boost at the end of February. The rise is due to the oil and gas prices that went up when Russia’s invasion of Ukraine was a fact. In the last week, however, the mood at Børsen has also cooled.

The high oil and gas prices have nevertheless given a sharp boost to several of Børsen’s oil companies. By far the largest heavyweights on the stock exchange, Equinor, have risen above eight per cent during the period. Aker BP has risen over thirteen percent. The newcomer Vår Energi is also up more than eight percent during the period.

On Wednesday, the main index on the Oslo Stock Exchange opens up around 0.7 percent.

Reduces capacity

Before the stock exchange opened on Wednesday, both Norske Skog and Yara announced that the companies would reduce capacity as a result of sky-high raw material prices

Norske Skog must temporarily close down the Bruck paper mill plant in Austria. The shutdown is due to the high electricity prices that do not make it profitable to operate plants, the company writes.

– Bruck has delivered newsprint and LWC magazine paper to its customers despite a challenging energy market since the second half of 2021. Although we secured parts of the factory’s energy supply in March, the energy prices we are experiencing today make Bruck’s operations unsustainable, says CEO Sven Ombudstvedt in Norske Skog in the stock exchange announcement.