Popular northern brand Lapin Kulta is to leave Tornio

Brewery to close by the end of August 2010

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On Thursday, the employees of the local Lapin Kulta brewery in Tornio were notified that Hartwall is to close down the facility and co-determination negotiations involving all employees are to begin on October 15th.
      The employees of the brewery were naturally thunderstruck by the news.
      ”We could not expect anything like this; the news came as a great surprise to all of us. According to the announcement, the premises will be vacated by the end of August”, says Markku Rautio, the chief shop steward of the brewery.
     
The employees of Hartwall, which integrated into the Dutch Heineken Group in 2008, reacted to the news by walking out both in the company’s Tornio and Lahti sites. The staff will be back no sooner than on Sunday’s night shift.
      The shut-down of the oldest active industrial enterprise in Lapland is bound to affect the entire City of Tornio.
      Raimo Ronkainen, the Tornio City Manager, is as amazed at the news as the employees of the brewery.
      ”As far as I understand, the Tornio brewery has not been an unprofitable unit, but apparently it has not been enough. From the Dutch perspective, it is all the same to Heineken, whether the beer is made in Tornio or in Lahti. This is the price of globalisation”, Ronkainen argues.
     
The brewery has a long history in Tornio, and it will not be easy for its employees to leave their homes and their entire lives behind, as it will be hard to find new jobs in the area.
      The knock-on effects of the loss of 100 jobs will be extensive.
      According to current estimates, the City of Tornio will lose EUR 700,000 of its tax receipts as a result of Hartwall’s decision to consolidate production to its Lahti site.
      ”This is a major blow, but not a mortal one. We are planning many good projects which will create jobs in the future. We will just have to prioritize them and to begin to encourage those ventures vigorously”, says Sampo Kangastalo, the manager in charge of the city’s development.
     
     
FACTFILE: Brewing of beer in Tornio started 136 years ago
     
The Tornio brewery, Torneå Bryggeri Aktiebolag, was established in 1873.
     
In 1963, the brewery Tornion Olut joined forces with its subsidiary Lapin Olut. The company started the manufacturing and marketing of Lapin Kulta, one of Finland’s most popular beers.
     
In 1965, Hartwall started cooperation with the Lapin Kulta brewery, with Harwall distributing Lapin Kulta beer in its own market areas and Lapin Kulta distributing Hartwall products in Lapland.
     
In 1969, Lapin Kulta
became the official name of the brewery in Tornio.
     
The family enterprise Hartwall acquired the entire capital stock in Lapin Kulta in 1980. The Hartwall share begun to be quoted on the OTC List of the Finnish Association of Securities Dealers in 1989.
     
In 2002, Hartwall was in turn acquired by the UK-based brewery Scottish & Newcastle, which was the eighth largest brewery in the world at the time.
     
In 2008, the Finnish brewery got a new owner, being now a part of the Dutch Heineken N.V. that is Europe’s largest brewer and the world’s third largest by volume.
     
"Lapin Kulta" means "Lappish Gold", a reference both to the colour of the lager beer and the history of gold-panning in the rivers of the north.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Carlsberg and Heineken aspire to purchase S&N, owner of Finnish brewers Hartwall (18.10.2007)
  Finland´s largest beverage company sold to British brewery (15.2.2002)

Links:
  Hartwall press release 8.10.2009: Hartwall optimizes efficiency - plans to close Tornio brewery, reorganize sales and invest in new canning line

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