EUWID Special: Wood-based Panels

Machinery 

• With a new order from Sudama, Andritz has sold a total of nine refiners to India
• Continuous presses now used to make plywood for the first time
• Voestalpine places power plant order with Dieffenbacher Energy
• Sunds Fibertech aims for further growth after majority sale to investor Priveq
• SGS completed relocation of short-cycle press to MeisterWerke within two months

Chemicals

• European Commission has published formaldehyde regulation in mid-July
• Melamine manufacturers and converters file action to have ECHA decision annulled
• Methanol converters were forced to replace imports from Russia by other deliveries
• Acquisition of Borealis Nitro plants added melamine to Agrofert’s product range
• Swiss Krono Group first user of BASF’s biomass-balanced Kauramin resin
• Gruppo Mauro Saviola acquired all Advachem shares at the start of April

Wood-based panels 

• All European markets have experienced mounting pressure in recent months
• Central Europe: wood-based panel prices still falling after the summer holidays

Structural panels 

• Fletcher Building planning OSB line at former particleboard site in Taupo
• Kronospan to invest US$350m in new OSB line in Eastaboga, Alabama
• Louisiana-Pacific to convert Wawa site from OSB to siding production
• Swiss Krono Group is planning to build next OSB mill in southwest of France
• Kingspan poised to acquire 51.0% stake in Steico by the start of 2024
• Sonae Arauco to start manufacturing insulating board in Meppen too
• Plywood producer Groupe Thébault to build LVL plant in the centre of France
• Metsä implements plans to expand LVL capacities at the Äänekoski site

Composite panels 

• Roseburg shutting Taylorsville mill and investing in new MDF/HDF mill
• CalPlant in liquidation, ongoing sales process for plant and machinery
• Slotex owner acquired Ikea facilities in Novgorod and restarted production
• Kastamonu Entegre produced first particleboard at new site on 17 August
• Particleboard line at Kronospan Sanem to make first board in mid-December
• Egger raised group revenues again despite lower production volumes
• Egger already planning to make first investments in Markt Bibart mill

Surfaces 

• Added capacity in new markets leads to shift in decor paper production
• Recovery of global decor paper markets will take longer than originally expected
• DuraSorb production in North Charleston finally phased out by end of August
• Interprint expands site in Pittsfield and adds new printing plant in Gebze
• Schattdecor orders a printing/lacquering system for its Tarnowo Podgórne site
• Lamigraf commissions new printing machine at its Spanish headquarters

Furniture 

• German furniture industry to brace itself for further declines in second half-year
• Germany: online furniture sales declined by 13.3% in second quarter
• After weak holiday period, furniture sector fears further slowing down in autumn
• Blum concludes financial year 2022/2023 with double-digit turnover decline
• US Furniture manufacturer Klaussner discontinued all activities in August
• Vivonio Furniture Group to close both Maja furniture factories by end of year

Flooring 

• European parquet production fell nearly twice as much as parquet consumption
• Import surplus on European parquet markets rose to 13.2m m² in 2022
• European market share of Chinese parquet producers rose above 25%
• MMFA members saw their total sales decrease more and more last year
• I4F Licensing relocates headquarters to new technology centre in Turnhout

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