All, my name is Veronica Skevik Frey, and I'm Vice President Finance in Borregaard. I'm joined today by our CFO, Per Bjarne Lyngstad, and we are live from the biorefinery in Norway. Here's the agenda for today's call. First, Per Bjarne will reiterate the outlook from the latest quarterly report. Secondly, he will discuss the disruption at the Sarpsborg site. Third, currency and commodities input. At last, the Q&A session. Regarding the Q&A session, feel free to start typing your questions in the chat function already now. I will hand over to Per Bjarne, who will then reiterate the key points from the outlook given in our latest quarterly report.
Thank you, Veronica, and good afternoon, everyone. I will start with reiterating the key points from the outlook after the second quarter, and when relevant, refer to comments given in the Q&A sessions at the webcast for the second quarter on the 16th of July. When I go through the outlook for BioMaterials, I will also comment on the stock exchange release on the 15th of September regarding temporary disruption in production of specialty cellulose here at the site in Norway. I will start with the BioSolutions. In BioSolutions, the outlook for the full year's sales volume was unchanged at about 330,000 tons. The sales volume in the third quarter is expected to be largely in line with the third quarter of 2024, which was 81,000 tons. We continue to expect a positive but limited effect from the anti-dumping duties on vanillin.
We got two questions regarding BioSolutions at the webcast in July. The first question was related to agriculture. We were asked if strong sales into agriculture will continue into the second half of 2025 and into 2026. We confirmed that this trend has been ongoing for several quarters. Actually, this was the sixth quarter in a row where we pointed at a strong performance in agriculture. We are well positioned to benefit from green trends in agriculture, and the growth spans our entire product portfolio. We think that agriculture will still be a very attractive market for Borregaard going forward. The second question was about the outlook for lignin prices into the second half of 2025 and into 2026. Borregaard uses value-based prices where possible. Pricing has been fairly flat recently, and we don't have any more exact answer on where pricing will go from now.
It will depend on how we see demand developing. Remember that we have more than 600 products in this area. If there is a strong demand across the portfolio, we will be in a better position to adjust pricing than if we see a more normal demand development. Turning to BioMaterials, the sales volume in 2025 was, at the second quarter presentation in July, forecasted to be approximately 150,000 tons, with a higher share of specialized grades than in 2024. Average prices in sales currency for the second half of 2025 were expected to remain largely unchanged from the first half of the year. The third quarter volume was projected to be between 35,000 and 38,000 tons. On the 15th of September, Borregaard sent out a stock exchange release about temporary disruption in production of specialty cellulose, which will affect the third quarter and full-year volumes.
The disruption was due to an unforeseen outage at a facility at the Sarpsborg site, which supplies a key chemical used in the production of specialty cellulose. During the outage, cellulose production was restricted to grades outside standard specifications, resulting in delays of shipments of certain specialty cellulose grades. Production of other products was not affected during the outage. Deliveries of specialty cellulose in the third quarter are now expected to total about 30,000 tons, compared with the previously forecasted range of 35,000 to 38,000 tons. The estimated negative impact on the group's EBITDA for the third quarter is in the range of NOK 40 to 50 million. I can add a few more comments to the stock exchange release. The disrupted facility is now running at full capacity.
The off-spec material will be sold over time, probably at reduced prices, and we expect only minor, if any, EBITDA impact from these sales in coming quarters. However, we might see a negative impact on our average sales price in the coming quarters. At the webcast in July, we got several questions regarding the outlook for BioMaterials. The first question was about mix improvement and U.S. demand for cellulose products. As to mix improvements, the two closures in the U.S. and Canada by Georgia-Pacific's Foley plant and the Temiscaming facility of RYAM have had an impact on the overall market balance. These closures have given Borregaard openings in certain areas, like high-quality casings, where Georgia-Pacific used to be a player in the past. Historically, Borregaard hasn't sold much into the U.S. Last year was an exception due to the closures at the Foley and Temiscaming mills. This year, U.S.
specialty volumes will be lower, especially after the implementation of import tariffs of 15% for goods from Norway from the beginning of August. The second question was about the market balance for specialty cellulose going forward compared with the last 10 years. In our response, we refer to what we've said since our capital markets day two years ago, that by 2030, we expect a tight market balance. Closures at the Georgia-Pacific Foley and Temiscaming mills have shifted the balance further, but a slowdown in construction has so far offset this. If construction normalizes and we achieve the expected growth rates, tightness will come sooner rather than later. Remember that the barriers to entry are high for other companies in the specialty cellulose business, and it's difficult for them to go into most of the specialty cellulose segments.
Moving on to Fine Chemicals, where we expect higher sales prices and volumes for advanced bioethanol in the second half to be similar to the first half. Sales volume for fine chemical intermediates is expected to increase compared with the second half of 2024. The first question we got regarding Fine Chemicals was about bioethanol sales volumes and the stability of Fine Chemicals' EBITDA over the past three quarters. In our response, we pointed to the fact that we had a slightly weaker product mix in the second quarter, especially for fine chemical intermediates. A more normalized product mix may give us a slight lift in the remaining quarters this year. The run rate for Fine Chemicals will be close to what we've seen recently, possibly a bit better in the second half than in the first half.
It's important to note that advanced bioethanol is not a typical Borregaard specialized product. The market balance sets the price, which is unusual for us. Price development depends on supply and incentives. Also, there's an ongoing EU case involving possible fraud in advanced bioethanol approvals, which could affect market balance. The second question was, if we assume stable bioethanol prices, could Fine Chemicals margins improve? The answer was no. If we go back to what I just said, out of the markets where Borregaard is active, this is the most commodity-like market we are in. It's really all down to how the market balance will play out going forward. Back to the outlook and the development in important cost components. Wood costs in the second half of 2025 are expected to be approximately 5% lower than in the first half.
It's important to note that our wood costs include a transportation component of 25% to 30%, with the wood itself accounting for 70% to 75% of the total costs. Based on price developments, delivery patterns, and inventory levels, we expect a 5% cost reduction in the second half. We got a question about discrepancies in wood costs between the Nordic pulp market and the rest of Europe, and that other Nordic peers are guiding for larger drops. Borregaard's present wood cost has landed cost at our site in Norway, which includes a significant transportation component. When we report a 5% reduction, the actual wood price drop is higher than the total cost reduction. Wood cost levels in the Nordic regions are much higher than in Europe and other parts of the world. We don't see really that we have a very different drop in the price from other companies.
Leaving the wood cost and going back to the outlook, we said that completed environmental investments will contribute positively by reducing energy costs and CO₂ emissions. As to energy costs, remember that energy consumption is normally lower in the summer season and higher during winter. About 15% of Borregaard's energy consumption is dependent on energy spot prices for electricity and LNG. For LNG, we have a one-month delay compared with the market price, which is the Dutch TTF. Electricity prices in Norway have on average been significantly above last year's prices in our area so far in the third quarter. LNG prices have so far been marginally lower than last year's, taking the one-month delay into consideration. In total, we have higher spot prices, and it should to a larger extent be offset by Borregaard's reduced energy consumption related to the spray dryer investment at the site in Norway.
At the end of the outlook presentation, we reminded you about our general disclaimer that the geopolitical uncertainties, such as tariffs and conflicts, may impact Borregaard's markets and costs. However, we did not have any specific updates on this at the second quarter presentation. Having completed the outlook, we will point to one more element which will have an impact on 2025 results. Borregaard has a hedging strategy for currency that delays the impact of changes in currency rates. Using currency rates as of the 15th of July, the net currency impact for the full year of 2025 was estimated to be positive by about NOK 105 million compared with 2024. The corresponding impact for the second quarter of 2025 was estimated to be positive by about NOK 20 million compared with the second quarter of 2024.
We've continued to see a strengthening of the Norwegian kroner so far in the third quarter, especially compared with the U.S. dollar. Today, the Norwegian central bank lowered its policy rate by 0.25%, and the NOK has weakened slightly towards our main currencies after that. If the present currency rates continue the rest of the month, we will see a marginally lower net currency impact in the third quarter compared with the NOK 20 million based on the calculation from the 16th of July. If today's rates continue for the rest of the year, the net currency impact will be more in the range of NOK 90 million compared with positive NOK 105 million based on the calculation from the 16th of July. I will now hand over to Veronica, who will lead a Q&A session with questions asked in the chat function of this webcast.
Thank you, Per Bjarne. We will now open the floor to questions from our listeners. Please use the chat function to submit your questions, and we will address them where possible and as time permits. We have already got one question from Mr. Elliot Johns from Danske Bank. Has there been any more developments concerning the anti-dumping filing from a U.S. company against Norway and Brazil?
What I can say about that is that the process is ongoing. We have filed our first view on volumes in the anti-dumping case. The volumes that were used in the petition, which is what it's called when you raise an anti-dumping case, were too high, really. It was something, as far as we can see, there was something wrong with the U.S. import statistics. There was a mix of our volumes and other very low-priced volumes. We are in a phase where we try to straighten out errors in the foundation. This process will go on for quite some time. Of course, we were surprised by this claim by our main competitor in specialty cellulose, RYAM, and we have a problem understanding the numbers that are in the petition.
This will take some time, as I say, and we are fighting this case together with our lawyers in the U.S.
That was the only question so far, so that seems to conclude the Q&A session. Thank you for participating in today's pre-close call. We appreciate your interest in Borregaard. This webcast will be published on Borregaard's website until the next pre-close call in December this year. As a reminder, this call marks the start of our silent period during which contact with the investment community will be reduced to a minimum. We look forward to our next update and wish you all a great day ahead. Thank you and goodbye.
Thank you.