SCA (company)


Svenska Cellulosa AB is a Swedish timber, pulp and paper manufacturer with headquarters in Sundsvall. It has approximately 4,000 employees and a turnover of approximately SEK 15.4 billion. Its main products include many one-use paper products, publication papers, solid-wood products, pulp and forest-based biofuel. SCA is Europe's largest private owner of forest land, with 2.6 million hectares, the size of North Macedonia. The global hygiene product company Essity was part of SCA until 2017. Recently, SCA has been caught in the crossfire as Greenpeace exposed its role in "wiping away" the Great Northern Forest and thereby its contribution to Global warming.

History

SCA was founded by Ivar Kreuger in November 27, 1929 as a holding company for ten Swedish forest industry companies. Following Kreuger's bankruptcy in 1932, the company came to be controlled by the bank Handelsbanken, who along with associated funds and companies continue to control SCA. Axel Gustaf Torbjörn Enström was the managing director from 1950 to 1960 and chairman of the board from 1960 to 1965.
In 1975 SCA acquired Mölnlycke Health Care, a leading western European producer of disposable hygiene products, and in 1990 SCA acquired transport packaging company Reedpack. In 1995 the Germany-based paper and packaging company PWA was acquired. In 2001 the division Wisconsin Tissue of the United States company Georgia-Pacific Tissue was acquired. In 2004 SCA acquired the tissue and hygiene products businesses of Carter Holt Harvey from International Paper.
In 2007, SCA bought the European business of Procter & Gamble, significantly expanding its hygiene product business. In 2008 SCA increases ownership in Chinese tissue company Vinda. In 2012 SCA divested its packaging operations – excluding the two kraftliner mills in Sweden – to DS Smith.
In August 2015 it was announced that SCA to invest in increased capacity for mass production at the Östrand pulp mill in Timrå, Sweden. The annual production capacity of bleached sulphate pulp will increase from approximately 430 000 tonnes to 900 000 tonnes. The investment amounts to approximately SEK 7.8 billion and is expected to be one of the largest industrial investment in the history of Norrland.
In August 2015 it was announced that SCA's hygiene operations and forest operations will be divided into two different divisions. A year later, August 24, 2016, the Company announced that it intends to split the SCA in two listed companies. In 2017 the company Essity was formed and was introduced at the Stock Exchange in Stockholm.

Products and brands

Several complaints have been filed against SCA because of its repeated practice of clearcutting, where large areas of forests are cut down uniformly, which in temperate and boreal climates leads to the release of large amounts of carbon stored in the soil due to its increased exposure to sunlight. As minutely documented by Greenpeace, SCA "clearcuts some of Sweden’s last remaining old-growth forests, wiping away habitats of threatened species and endangering the livelihood of indigenous communities".