HELSINKI, May 3, 2011 (AFP) - Finnish paper giant Stora Enso said on Tuesday it planned to axe up to 285 jobs in fine-paper units in Finland, Sweden, Germany, Belgium and Britain in order to cut costs.

"Stora Enso Fine Paper plans to reduce annual costs by approximately EUR 20 million ($29.6 million), starting during 2011 with all actions to be completed by the end of the second quarter of 2012," the company said in a statement.

The company said it wanted to reduce staff through job cuts, outsourcing, and retirement, but added that the final tally of cuts would not be known until after talks with unions.

The head of the fine-paper unit Hannu Alalauri said that the restructuring was an effort to make the company more flexible and cost efficient under the current market situation.

"Fine-paper demand is still clearly below pre-crisis levels, and there are no signs of sustained recovery," he said.

In April, Stora Enso posted a better-than-expected first-quarter net profit of 156 million euros, a 53-percent increase on a 12-month comparison.

About 1,500 Stora Enso office workers in Finland are currently on strike as talks over a national wage plan in the forest products industry have failed to produce an agreement.

Those employees will return to work on May 11.