North American structural panels production improving

North American structural panels production increased in the first quarter of 2012 when compared both with the relatively weak fourth quarter of 2011 and the same time frame last year. This marks a continuation of the upward trend seen for some time now. The period from January to March 2012 was the best first quarter for structural panels production since 2008. Statistics released by the APA-The Engineered Wood Association ndicate that structural panels production increased again by 2% to 5.990m m³ in the first quarter of 2012. This growth was fuelled entirely by a 3% upturn in OSB production to 3.566m m³. Softwood plywood production was almost unchanged in a year-on-year comparison at 2.424m m³.