Outokumpu taking action to adjust to the weak s...

STOCK EXCHANGE RELEASE
November 10, 2008 at 13.15 pm


As Outokumpu stated in the outlook of its third quarter interim
report, the stainless steel demand is currently weak and the company
expects its fourth quarter delivery volumes to be at about the same
level or slightly above the volumes in the third quarter, which is
clearly below the company's full production capacity.

Due to the currently low order load, Outokumpu will start statutory
negotiations on temporary layoffs at the Tornio plant in Finland. The
layoffs would apply to selected production lines, maintenance and to
some office work. Altogether the negotiations concern full or
part-time layoff of a total of 1 500 employees. The layoffs would be
carried out mainly by reducing shifts depending on the production
line and duties and they would continue for a maximum of three
months. The statutory negotiations are expected to take two weeks.

Outokumpu's production sites in other countries are taking similar
actions to adjust their operations to reflect customer order volumes.
In Sweden several sites are already taking measures, for example by
reducing shifts.

Outokumpu Group employs 8 700 people, of which 2 300 at the Tornio
Works in Finland.

Outokumpu's CEO Juha Rantanen says: "It is very unfortunate that we
are forced to take these actions. We are currently not able to offer
full-time employment to all of our people. The global economic
turmoil has an impact on stainless steel demand, which means that our
customers are not placing orders at a pace that would allow us to run
production at full capacity. We are very committed to work with the
employee representatives in order to minimize the impacts on our
employees, their families and the local communities."

Outokumpu's future outlook published in the third quarter interim
report on October 23, 2008 stays unchanged. The company's underlying
operational result in the fourth quarter of 2008 is expected to be
slightly positive. At current nickel prices, further nickel-related
inventory losses of some EUR 50-100 million including the impact of
hedging are expected in the fourth quarter, which would turn
Outokumpu's operating profit negative.

For further information please contact:

Pekka Erkkilä, EVP - General Stainless, Outokumpu Oyj, tel. +358 40
514 8121
Antti Pihko, SVP - Tornio Works, tel. [phone], mobile +358 40
848 2948


OUTOKUMPU OYJ
Corporate Management



Päivi Lindqvist
Senior Vice President - Communications & Investor Relations
tel. [phone], mobile [phone]
[e-mail]
www.outokumpu.com


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