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The extension increases the mill's production capacity to 90,000 cubic meters per year. A new bio boiler plant opened together with the extension will enhance the mill's material efficiency and reduce fossil carbon dioxide emissions by 85%, UPM said in a press release.

"The investments now completed take the Otepaa mill to the world class of plywood mills. As a result of the increased production capacity, the mill will be able to better respond to the growing demand for high-quality plywood products in our key customer industries in construction, transport equipment industry and LNG shipbuilding," said  Mika Sillanpaa, executive vice president of UPM Plywood.

The mill is equipped with a state-of-the-art veneer peeling line and drying line, extra veneer jointing and composing capacity and new gluing and pressing lines. In addition, log sorting and soaking capacity was increased to meet growing production volumes.

The new 18 megawatt bio boiler plant fully meets the mill's thermal energy demand using production leftovers as fuel. As a result, all of the wood entering the mill is used either in plywood production, as raw material for other products or in energy production.

Founded in 2000, the Otepaa mill is the largest plywood mill in Estonia. It manufactures uncoated and coated birch plywood mainly for construction, vehicle floors and LNG carriers. 95% of the plant's output is exported, mainly to Central Europe.

With the completion of the extension, the Otepaa mill's workforce numbers grew by about forty to 240 people. The mill is one of the biggest industrial employers in Valga County in Estonia.

The sales of UPM Plywood in 2015 totaled 439 mln euros and the group employs about 2,400 people. UPM Plywood has six plywood mills and a veneer mill in Finland, and plywood mills in Russia and Estonia