Lapland Chamber of Commerce, Finland, is the Northernmost Chamber of Commerce in the European union. The area of Lapland Chamber of Commerce consists of the Region of Lapland. The Chamber was established in 1939. Chamber has about 400 member companies. The great majority of the members are small or medium size businesses although major large businesses have also joined the Chamber.

An important part of the Lapland Chamber of Commerce work is to facilitate international trade and establish contacts between companies in Lapland and companies especially in the Barents Euroarctic Region and all over the world. Lapland Chamber of Commerce plays an active role in international cooperation and networking of companies and accordingly, stresses the importance of international marketing of Lapland and Barents Region. Lapland is located in the Heart of Barents Euroarctic Region close to the North West Russia and it is gateway to the developing energy projects in the Barents Sea and the Murmansk Region in Russian Federation.

To positively assist companies in making and maintaining international contacts, Lapland Chamber of Commerce has been over decade the leading member of the Euroarctic Chamber of Commerce, Barents Business Advisory Group.

About Lapland

The total area of Lapland is 98 937 km² and it is 30% of Finland's total land area. Lapland has about 185.000 inhabitants with an average population density of about 2 people/km². The indigenous people of Lapland are Sami with a population of about 7000.

Rovaniemi is the capital of Lapland with about 58.000 inhabitants. The industrial towns of Kemi and Tornio in the southern part of the county hawe both about 23.000 inhabitants. Town of Kemijärvi in the eastern Lapland has about 10.000 inhabitants. The province has also 18 municipalities and the population in these is quite sparse. Paper and other wood processing industry, steel industry and energy companies form the core of Lapland Business Community. The importance of tourism is also rapidly increasing. Lapland has several large holiday resorts. The biggest of these are Levi and Ylläs in the western part of Lapland, Saariselkä in the north and Pyhä-Luosto region in the center part of the province. Mining industry is also growing in Lapland. Totally five new mining projects are today under implementation in the region. All these are in production in the beginning of next decade.

Lapland is the northernmost province in the EU and the membership has given new sources of livelihood to Lapland. Over 70 % of Lapland's export goes to the EU area. Northwest Russia is very important for the European Union because of its remarkable economic potential, huge energy reserves and the active growth of international business. Along with membership in EU the development programmes, planned for Lapland, are aimed to diversify sources of livelihood, effective usage of resources and to increase export.

The major companies in World class

The forest industry in Lapland is part of the global companies like Stora Enso, M-Real and Botnia. Outokumpu Stainless Oy steel mill is one of the biggest unit of stainless steel in the whole world. All these industrial units use modern technology which prevents problems in environmental questions. Mechanical wood is also growing sector of the forest industry. Many sawmills like Finnforest and Lappset Group in Rovaniemi are good examples. Lappset Group is an internationally known playground equipment producer. Small and medium size engineering companies have also significant role. Bombardier Recrienational Products Finland Oy in Rovaniemi manufactures and developes snowmobiles. Sava-Group and Kalottikone Ltd manufactures and developes machines for asphalt industry with innovative machine and device designs and production. Leading mining companies are Agnico Eagle Finland Oy, Kevitsa Mining Oy (First Quantum Minerals)), Yara, Northland Resources and North American Palladium.

Major tourism companies are Lapland Hotels Oy, Pyhätunturi Oy, Hullu Poro Oy and safari companies like Lapland Safaris Oy .

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Contact us!

Kemi office:
Address: Digipolis, Tietokatu 3, 94600 KEMI
Phone: +358 20 754 5498
Fax: +358 20 754 5495

Rovaniemi office:
Address: Maakuntakatu 29-31 B, 96200 ROVANIEMI
Phone: +358 20 754 5499, +358 20 754 5497
Fax: +358 20 754 5496