KWH Group

KWH Group Ltd
Native name
Finnish: KWH-yhtymä Oy
Swedish: KWH-koncernen Ab
Company typePrivate
IndustryConglomerate
Founded1929; 95 years ago (1929)
HeadquartersVaasa, Finland
Key people
Henrik Höglund, Chairman
Kjell Antus, President
Stefan Sjöberg (Mirka)
Joakim Laxåback (KWH Logistics)
Peter Lång (KWH Freeze)
Marko Nylund (Prevex)
ProductsAbrasives,
logistics services,
real estate holdings,
plastic plumbing products
Revenue592.8 million euros (2021)[1]
45.0 million euro (2019)
35.3 million euro (2019)[2]
Number of employees
2363 (2019)
Websitewww.kwhgroup.com/en/home/

KWH Group Ltd (Finnish: KWH-yhtymä Oy, Swedish: KWH-koncernen Ab)[3] is one of Finland's largest companies in abrasives, logistics services and plastics. It is headquartered in Vaasa, Finland.

From a modest start in the timber industry, KWH Group grew to be the biggest timber exporter in Finland by 1939, accounting for 26% of the country's total lumber exports and some 20% of pulpwood exports[4] [citation needed]. The company was the world's largest fox and mink fur producer in the 1960s and 1970s, producing approximately 10% of all Finnish mink furs, equivalent to 2% of world production in 1973.[5]

After expanding into plastics production in the 1950s, the company was the first in Finland to manufacture expanded polystyrene sheets with its brand name Styrox. Establishing a niche in plastic pipe manufacturing, the company was the first in the world to manufacture a 600 mm (24 in) diameter pipe in 1964, thereby gaining international recognition.[6]

Today, the Mirka Group (previously KWH Mirka Group until 2016) is one of the largest manufacturers of "flexible abrasives materials" in the world.[7] It is headquartered in Vaasa, Finland.[8]

  1. ^ "Annual review 2021". KWH Group. 21 April 2022. Retrieved 29 April 2022.
  2. ^ KWH Group Ltd: Annual Review 2019
  3. ^ "KWH-koncernen Ab". Kauppalehti (in Finnish). Retrieved 16 October 2023.
  4. ^ Holger., Wester (1979). Wiik & Höglund 1929-1979. Stjernschantz, Göran., Swanljung, Harry., (Litoset). Vaasa: Wiik & Höglund. ISBN 9519924124. OCLC 57866991.
  5. ^ KWH Group Ltd: The history of KWH Group
  6. ^ Wester, Holger and Stjernschantz, Göran: Wiik & Höglund 1929-1979 (ISBN 9519930310)
  7. ^ KWH Group Ltd: Annual Review 2016
  8. ^ "Company information". Finnish Patent and Registration Office. 17 May 2022. Retrieved 17 May 2022.