Our history

Rooted in History

Stora Enso was formed in 1998 through the merger of the Finnish company Enso Oyj and the Swedish company Stora Kopparbergs Bergslags Aktiebolag (STORA). But our history dates back more than 700 years. Before Stora Enso as it is today, let's walk through our history.

Stora Kopparberg, Stora and Enso

Before there was Stora Enso, there was Finnish company Enso Oyj and Swedish company Stora Kopparbergs Bergslags Aktiebolag (STORA.) The first recorded documentation of Stora operations is from 1288, namely copper mining near Falun, Sweden. This business progressed to become Stora Kopparbergs Bergslag in 1862 and encompass mining, iron, and wood activities.

While it was several hundred years before any pulp, board or paper was produced, forestry was always a central part of the company. Wood was needed as fuel and for heating the copper ore to extract the metal. In the 1970s, Stora sold its mining and metal operations to focus on forestry, pulp and paper.

The Enso part of the company dates back to 1872, when the W. Gutzeit & Co sawmill firm was founded in Kotka, Finland by the Norwegian Hans Gutzeit. It was one of the first steam-powered sawmills in Finland. In 1912, Gutzeit acquired the Enso träsliperi AB. By the late 1990s, following a number of mergers and acquisitions over the years, Enso-Gutzeit had become Finland's largest forestry company. In 1996, after a merger with Veitsiluoto, the company took the name Enso Oy.

The Story Continues

Today, the transformation continues. Stora Enso focuses on the possibilities of renewable materials, with the forest and trees as the foundation.