<B>Stora Enso Shuttering Two North American Machines</B>

Stora Enso is permanently retiring two paper machines at its North America Division.

One paper machine at the Division's Wisconsin Rapids Paper Mill, in Wisconsin Rapids, Wis., and a paper machine at its Whiting Paper Mill, in Whiting, Wis., will be permanently closed.

Before this announcement, both machines were on standby status, operating

only as needed. Neither machine is currently producing paper. The machine at Wisconsin Rapids has the capacity to produce 57,000 metric tons of coated groundwood-free fine papers a year. It has been closed since last June.

The Whiting paper machine, with an annual capacity of 23,000 metric tons of lightweight-coated groundwood papers annually, has not been operational for two years.