EUWID Special: Wood-based Panels

Machinery

• VDMA Woodworking Machinery group sticking to 2022 forecast
• Imal-Pal Group sees growth potential by expanding new business areas
• Dieffenbacher integrates Bertsch assets into new Dieffenbacher Energy GmbH
• Büttner to supply first dry electrostatic filter for doorskin project in the US
• Oschatz Power will help Deurotech to supply energy plants in the future

Chemicals 

• Twenty-six member states back planned formaldehyde rules
• Resin prices still higher than they were despite substantial corrections
• Among other things, BASF will close an ammonia plant in Ludwigshafen
• Ikea Industry to use more bio-based adhesives in particleboard production
• Sherwin-Williams to acquire SIC Holding with Nolte and Klumpp

Wood-based panels 

• Operational challenges influenced WBP and surfaces businesses

Structural panels

• First double-digit decline in Brazilian Elliotis pine exports since several years
• North America: Structural panels production falls back below 30m m³
• OSB deliveries from the EU and CIS plummeted in the second half of 2022
• OSB capacity will continue to grow on all continents in the next few years
• Technology earmarked for OSB mill in Sharya finding new use worldwide
• Private equity firm Carlyle to acquire plywood producer Grupo Garnica

Composite panels 

• North America: Development on composite panels market still weak
• Total annual capacity for particleboard and OSB will overtake MDF/HDF
• Particleboard and MDF/HDF capacity poised to soar in the next few years
• Particleboard and MDF prices remain under pressure in the first quarter
• Door manufacturer Steves & Sons orders systems for door skin factory
• Kastamonu Entegre installing four short-cycle presses in Balikesir
• Gruppo Mauro Saviola boosts stake in particleboard producer Rheinspan
• Kronospan Group has ditched plans to acquire Pfleiderer’s Polish mills
• Pfleiderer reported slight growth in EBITDA margin for the year 2021
• Egger Group acquired a 60% stake in particleboard manufacturer SAIB
• Egger to invest €55m in expanding Bünde component facility by 2024

Surfaces 

• Felix Schoeller Group adding second North American decor paper machine
• Kämmerer stopped production of pre-impregnated paper in December
• Schattdecor’s holding company Retis Group raised revenues by almost 20%
• Schattdecor has wrapped up projects at sites in the USA, Poland and Brazil
• Coveright Surfaces Spain was sold out of insolvency in late December
• Egger approved more investments at its laminate plant in Gifhorn

Furniture

• Cyberattacks on the rise also in the wood and furniture sector
• German Furniture industry increased turnover by 6.9% in full year of 2022
• German furniture exports increased by 3.1% in 2022, imports rose by 2.8%
• Kitchen manufacturers enjoyed growth in Germany and abroad again last year
• Nobia Group investigates up to 500 redundancies at UK sites

Flooring

• I4F and Unilin Technologies reach a deal on digital printing issues
• 24% slump pushes global laminate flooring sales below 2003’s level
• Välinge Innovation and Bjelin merging to form the Välinge Bjelin Group
• Pervanovo set to invest another €700m in expanding its six Croatian sites
• Mohawk is planning to increase LVT capacity at sites in Belgium and USA

Machinery

• Woodworking machinery producers enjoyed additional growth until spring
• Italian woodworking machinery industry sets new records in 2021
• Vyncke recently experienced further extensions in order backlog
• Sunds Fibertech sold 35 PressBooster and 40 EVOfuge systems so far
• In the first months of 2022, Kadant received six strander orders from China
• Pagnoni installing multi-daylight press for HPL production in Uzbekistan

Chemicals

• Chemical companies cutting production more due to rising prices for natural gas
• Commission reviewing anti-dumping duties on melamine imports from China 
• Czech conglomerate Agrofert bids €810m for Borealis’s nitrogen business
• Silverfleet closed sale of Prefere Resins to One Rock Capital at the end of July

Wood-based panels

• Outlook for the wood-based panel industry has deteriorated in 2022
• Rising raw material and energy costs may lead to changes in supply flows 
• Spiralling costs and dwindling demand raise questions about production
• Renewed cost increases still hard to pass on to wood-based panel prices

Structural panels

• Birch plywood shipments from Russia to the EU ground to a halt on 10 July 
• PFS discontinues elliotis pine plywood certification for Brazilian mills
• US experienced another increase in OSB imports from the EU
• Confusion over alleged takeover bid for West Fraser from CVC and Kronospan
• Another 11% growth registered in Steico’s insulation output in 2021

Composite panels

• Brazilian composite panel markets stage a slight recovery during spring
• Uniboard is preparing the final steps for the modernisation of Val-d’Or
• Berneck is planning to double particleboard capacity in Curitibanos
• PG Bison invested ZAR465m in major wood-based panel projects 
• Yildiz Entegre acquired assets of Yildiz Sunta and ramped up production
• Ikea starts process of selling Russian particleboard mill and furniture plants
• Ikea Industry resumed operations at Malacky mill earlier than expected
• EU set a new decision date for planned sale of Pfleiderer Polska to Kronospan
• Finsa lifts 2021 sales revenue above €1bn again, EBITDA raised by 60 %
• Egger to ramp up investments to around €400m in the current year
• Homann acquires minority stake in Egyptian MDF producer Nile Wood
• Four short-cycle presses are slated for start-up until the end of third quarter

Surfaces

• Ahlstrom-Munksjö to transfer its Decor Solutions unit to several shareholders
• Assembly work for new machinery at Ultra Décor enters final stages
• Arclin is commissioning a new treating site to increase its capacity for MDO
• Saueressig owner Matthews took over Olbrich GmbH in the middle of August
• Laminate producer Gentas Group becomes sole owner of Gentas Bolu

Furniture

• Statistics now telling the story of sharp downturn in the furniture industry too
• VDM revised 2022 turnover forecast downward from around 10 % to 6-8 %
• Furniture exports to China and Russia decreased in the first half of 2022
• Online furniture retailers were forced to revise forecasts for the full year of 2022
• XXXLutz Group aiming to acquire 50% share in Black Red White Group
• Fittings producer Blum reached another double-digit turnover rise in 2021/2022

Flooring

• Parquet production rises back above 80m m² mark for first time since 2008
• FEP reported another double-digit rise in parquet imports in 2021
• Parquet industry has to find alternative core materials to replace birch plywood
• Kährs initiates sales process for Russian multi-layer parquet plant
• Bauwerk Group expands activities in North America with next acquisition
• Sales processes for Armstrong Flooring assets were concluded during July
• Unilin to expand its PVC business with the acquisition of vinyl activities of Lentex
• Classen Group intends to expand Ceramin production to over 30 m m²

Doors

• Door producer Jeld-Wen to withdraw from Australia and Southeast Asia