Finnish food company Fazer Group is planning to shut its xylitol pastilles and chewing gum manufacturing facility in Karkkila and move production to its other facility in Lappeenranta.

Fazer noted that the move was in response to the increasing customer demand for xylitol products.

The company hopes that the move will allow it to manufacture more consumer-driven products with new tastes, shapes and packaging formats.

The company intends to close the facility next year and will initiate collaboration negotiations with all the employees at the Karkkila factory.

Fazer anticipates that by transferring the production to Lappeenranta, it would become more efficient and capable to remain competitive in the long run.

Fazer currently employs 27 people at Karkkila facility, of which 22 are permanent staff members while five are hired on-call contracts.

The firm added that if the negotiations with the employees led to redundancies, it would support affected staff members.