Louisiana-Pacific (LP) has met four potential UK wholesale distributors to represent its SolidStart engineered wood products.

Robert B Pamplin Jr, 97, the former chairman of Georgia-Pacific Corporation, has died after a long illness.

The world’s top 100 forest product companies saw their net income plummet from US$13.8bn in 2007 to record losses of US$8bn last year, according to a new PricewaterhouseCoopers survey.

Two leading Brazilian forest products companies are set to
merge creating what is claimed will be the biggest panel
manufacturer in the Southern Hemisphere.

Norbord has launched a new website showing how its engineered wood based panels are said to be ‘Better by Far’ for the environment.

Trade fair organisers Survey marketing GmbH and Deutsche Messe AG are no longer to be partners in staging the planned machinery trade fair to run parallel to ZOW Istanbul.

South America's leading wood panel maker Masisa SA has successfully launched its first medium density particleboard line in Brazil.

Flakeboard’s Bennettsville, South Carolina particleboard plant has been certified by the SmartWood Program of the Rainforest Alliance to FSC Chain-of-Custody and Controlled Wood Standards SW-COC-000444.

American lumber panels and engineered wood producer Louisiana-Pacific Corporation (LP) saw its losses narrow in the first quarter and expects activity to increase in the remainder of the year.

European parquet production fell 15.5% in 2008 to 84.7 million m2, according to new figures.

Forest and woodland owners in the Galloway area are being urged to be on the look out for the great spruce bark beetle following the first discovery of the insect pest in Scotland at Forestry Commission Scotland’s (FCS) Merton Hall woodland near Newton Stewart.

Wood based panels manufacturer Pfleiderer will start financing discussions with its banks after warning of a significant fall in earnings.

New home starts in the US increased in May, giving economists hope that the worst of the construction recession is in the past.

With only 47,000 visitors, Interzum 2009 in Cologne failed to reach the goal of 50,000 visitors for this 50th anniversary event. The share of international visitors was 65% compared to 70% expected. There were 1,300 exhibitors from 63 countries.

Sales of decorative laminates in the US are forecast to reverse their downward trend and increase 2.1% per year to over 12 billion ft2 in 2013, valued at US$7.4bn.

The Timber Trade Federation (TTF) has elected Martin Gale CBE as its new vice president with a mandate to help guide the TTF through the current recession. Mr Gale will become president in 2010 when incumbent Kevin Hayes’ tenure comes to an end.

Raute Corporation has completed negotiations about additional temporary layoffs affecting some 140 hourly workers at its Nastola location.

UPM opened a new production line at its Kalso veneer mill in Kouvola, Finland and immediately began negotiations to go on to short working.

Wood Based Panels International, the leading print and online resource for the wood based panels and panel equipment industry, has launched its Wood Based Panels Buyers Guide, the most comprehensive directory of manufacturers, distributors and suppliers in the wood based panels industry.

It is with regret that we report that George Whelan, at the young age of 45, died on May 27. Mr Whelan was technical director of SmartPLY Europe Ltd.

Flakeboard is to install its third new melamine press at its Duraflake particleboard plant located in Albany, Oregon.

Decor printer Interprint GmbH, Arnsberg, Germany and MDC Max Daetwyler AG, Bleienbach, Switzerland have founded a joint venture company with the objective of developing and marketing a new, cost-saving digital printing method. The name of the joint venture company, as registered in Switzerland, is DI Projekt AG.

The sixth China International Wood & Wood Products Expo will be held at the China International Exhibition Center (CIEC), Beijing, from October 22-24, 2009. www.woodchina.org

China has decentralised the permit approval process for wood based panel production plants, according to the latest International Tropical Timber Organisation market report.

Titan Wood (part of Accsys Technologies plc) and MDF manufacturer Medite Europe Ltd have signed a joint development agreement to create an economically viable, non-toxic and stable MDF panel made from Titan Wood’s Tricoya wood elements (‘Licensed Products’).

Metso and UPM have developed a new concept for the production of biomass-based bio-oil to replace fossil fuels in heating and power generation. Test production began at Metso’s test plant in Tampere, Finland, in June.

A wood based biofuels project in the Baltic Sea region is being explored by the Metsäliitto Group and Vapo.

ZOW supplier fair which was to be held in Zaragoza, Spain has been postponed until May 2010. Organiser Survey SL decided to cancel [just 10 days before it was due to open] as it said it had a responsibility as regards both the exhibitors’ costs and the visitors’ expenditure in the current economic climate.

Pfleiderer subsidiary Pergo – a leading producer of laminate flooring – has just opened a competence centre (providing a creative studio area, and customer training, etc) in Berlin. This is the fourth centre Pergo has opened in Europe.

Malaysia’s wood based industry is expected to achieve an export value of over RM20bn (US$525bn) this year despite the global economic slowdown.

Greenply Industries Ltd, manufacturers of plywood, high pressure laminates and decorative veneers, accounts for 25% of plywood and 15% of the laminates market in India.

A massive fire has ripped through a truss and beam manufacturer in Chehalis Washington causing damage at about US$15m. There were no injuries to any of the 15 employees.

Hubei Baoyuan Wood Industry is to install what is described as the first large scale OSB line in China. Pallmann will supply engineering equipment electrical control systems and service for the green end of the OSB line.

Due to poor export and domestic markets, a number of Russian wood processing companies stopped production and shipping in late 2008 and January-February 2009, which has resulted in a considerable decrease in production companies according to the Russian Ministry of Economic Development.

In order to improve its service performance to its customers Raute Corporation has started cooperation with the Slovenian knife manufacturer Ravne Knives.

Japan is the second largest importer of logs in the world after China and for many years sawmills in the country have been very dependent on the importation of saw logs for their wood raw-material needs, relying on 35% foreign logs in 2008, reports Wood Resource Quarterly.

Effective last month (June 2), Hombak Maschinen- und Anlagenbau GmbH, Bad Kreuznach, Germany, now belongs to Siempelkamp Maschinen- und Anlagenbau, Krefeld.

Finsa UK has been active on the certification front recently, gaining accreditation for plywood, particleboard and MDF.

At the Ligna exhibition on Tuesday, May19, Dieffenbacher GmbH announced it had signed a contract on May 9 for the supply of the main equipment package for the first continuous OSB line in Asia.

Following the insolvency and receivership of paper impregnation line manufacturer Vits Systems GmbH on March 26, 2009, the company was bought out of receivership on May 20th 2009.