The City of Pori

The city of Pori was founded at the mouth of the Kokemäenjoki river in 1558, and at present it is by population the tenth largest city in Finland. Some 140,000 people live in the Pori region. Traditionally an industrial and port city, Pori has rapidly transformed into a significant student hub. Strong ties to culture have kept the city vigorous for centuries.

Pori is part of the Satakunta region, and the region’s capital. Approximately 1,000 foreigners live in Pori. The Pori area is a vivid centre of service provision, and the area is also a centre of traditional industrial production. The key sectors of industry and economy are copper refining, shipbuilding and other branches of the heavy metal industry, electrical industry (high-precision and electrotechnical branches), energy production, the chemical industry, information technology, and telecommunications as well as a variety of port service operations.

For hundreds of years, ports have linked Pori to the world. Pori has always been appreciated as an efficient export port for timber, and in the past few years container traffic, particularly to ports in Germany, has grown vigorously. Plenty of raw materials for industry pass through the ports, and a total of 12 per cent of the nation’s overseas transport is routed through the ports of Pori and Rauma. The port has no passenger services.

Satakunta and the Pori area are the most industrialised regions in Finland, with 35 per cent of their jobs in the processing sector. The share of forestry and agriculture jobs totals 8 per cent, which corresponds to the national average. 55 per cent of the work force is employed by the service sector.

Outokumpu Poricopper Oy is part of Outokumpu Copper, the world’s second largest fabricator of copper products. It’s one of the regions’s largest employers. The units in Pori together manufacture about 108.000 tonnes of fabricated copper products per year. Exports account for over 90 % of the production.

Electric and electronic product manufacturing, food processing, textile production, and light engineering are often found in small and medium-sized companies in Satakunta. However, the metal industry has increased production most, although the electronics sector in SMEs is the fastest-growing branch of industry. Food processing is a growing sector in south-eastern Satakunta.

The Pori area is known for the international Pori Jazz Festival, the sandy beaches of Yyteri, several cultural sights, hiking routes, and birdwatching sites in the Kokemäenjoki delta.

Pori is one of the most competitive cities in Finland measured in terms of taxation and prices of energy, water, housing and real estate.

(Photo: Pasi Pajamäki)

The City of Pori