Hundreds of Chinese workers to be brought to Finnish battery material plant due to lack of local expertise

A battery material factory under construction in Kotka, Finland, will employ hundreds of Chinese workers for equipment installation, as Finnish expertise is deemed insufficient for the project, Yle reports.

The plant, being built by Chinese-Finnish company Easpring Finland, is the first of its kind in Finland and one of only a few in Europe. The company states that the specialized knowledge required for assembling the production equipment is not available domestically.

Supply chain delays force shift to round-the-clock work
Originally planned as daytime work, the installation phase will now operate in three shifts to accelerate progress. Delays in equipment deliveries—caused by rerouted shipments around Africa due to the closure of the Strait of Hormuz—have increased the need for additional labor.

“We’re talking about a few weeks’ delay, but demand for battery materials is high, so we want production up and running as soon as possible,” said Vesa Koivisto, Easpring Finland’s commercial director.

Union demands fair working conditions for all
The Industrial Union (Teollisuusliitto) accepts the temporary use of foreign workers but insists all employees must receive Finnish wages and conditions.

“Everyone working in Finland must have fair terms negotiated here,” said Riikka Vasama, head of the union’s foreign workforce unit. She noted that such mobility is common in industrial projects, where equipment suppliers often send their own specialists for installation.

Local expertise to grow with the project
While no similar plants are expected in Finland soon, Koivisto said operational knowledge will transfer to local workers. The factory, co-owned by China’s Beijing Easpring and Finland’s state-owned Terrafame, will produce cathode materials for lithium-ion batteries, primarily for the electric vehicle industry. Pilot production is set to begin this summer, with full-scale operations planned for 2027.

Currently, over 3,300 people work on the project, with more than 2,300 being Finnish. Daily site activity involves 700–1,000 workers, 80% of whom are domestic.