Stora Enso expects first quarter 2009 operating result clearly down on fourth quarter 2008

STORA ENSO OYJ STOCK EXCHANGE RELEASE 18 March 2009 at 07.00 GMT                

Stora Enso expects its operating result excluding non-recurring items (NRI) and 
fair valuations for the first quarter of 2009 to be clearly down on the fourth  
quarter of 2008 due to customer destocking and underlying weakness in demand,   
especially for wood products and fine paper. Stora Enso's operating profit      
excluding NRI and fair valuations was EUR 28.4 million in the fourth quarter of 
2008.                                                                           

Stora Enso remains committed to preserving cash flow through large production   
curtailments, stringent working capital management and other means, even though 
curtailments (forecast to total about 20% of paper and board production capacity
in the first quarter) have a negative impact on earnings, The Group has also    
decided to reduce the target capital expenditure for the full year 2009 from EUR
500 million to EUR 400 million.                                                 

In addition, Stora Enso and its partner Aracruz have decided to delay the       
Veracel II project by at least a year and to reduce 2009 capital expenditure by 
the joint venture on land purchases, plantations and the feasibility study due  
to the current and near-term outlook for markets.                               

When announcing its full year 2008 financial results, Stora Enso said the       
operating environment during at least the early part of 2009 would be as        
challenging as at the end of 2008. In Europe market demand is expected to remain
weak and clearly less than a year earlier for all of the Group's products       
throughout at least the first half of 2009 due to the current economic downturn.

For further information, please contact:                                        
Markus Rauramo, CFO, tel. +358 2046 21121                                       
Keith B. Russell, SVP, Investor Relations, tel. +44 20 7121 0910                
Ulla Paajanen-Sainio, VP, Investor Relations and Financial Communications, tel. 
+358 2046 21242                                                                 

www.storaenso.com                                                               
www.storaenso.com/investors                                                     


Stora Enso is a global paper, packaging and forest products company producing   
newsprint and book paper, magazine paper, fine paper, consumer board, industrial
packaging and wood products. The Group has 32 000 employees and 85 production   
facilities in more than 35 countries worldwide, and is a publicly traded company
listed in Helsinki and Stockholm. Our annual production capacity is 12.7 million
tonnes of paper and board, 1.5 billion square metres of corrugated packaging and
6.9 million cubic metres of sawn wood products, including 3.2 million cubic     
metres of value-added products. Our sales in 2008 were EUR 11.0 billion.        


STORA ENSO OYJ                                                                  


p.p.	Leena Bergqvist	Jukka Marttila