Louisiana Pacific Corporation could pay Clarke County, Albama, up to US$1.5m over the next three years for defaulting on its agreement to operate its new OSB mill with at least 130 employees, reports Editor & Publisher.
The $260m OSB mill south of Thomasville started it up in March 2008, but was shut after an explosion two months later. It was set to resume production in October but LP kept it shut for market reasons.
The company continued to pay more than 130 workers since that time but gave notice in late November of its intentions to terminate them in 60 days
The original project agreement called for LP to open the mill and to employ at least 130 employees for a year. LP did not do that and county attorney Bruce Wilson said the original agreement "clawback provisions" could run anywhere from US$2.5m to US$3m, depending on interpretation of the agreement.
LP has been cost-cutting at every level of the organization to ride out the economic downturn and has stressed to county officials that Clarke County is its flagship OSB plant. It has every intention of getting the mill up and running once the market recovers sufficiently.

In February of this year a storm hit the Aquitaine region in South-west France causing extensive damage, particularly to the forests. It is thought as much as 40 million m3 of trees were felled – equivalent to about five years of normal harvesting. Many trees broke mid-stem so this wood will have to be used for panel products, paper manufacture or energy generation. Others broke at the root base so, hopefully, can be sawn.
The huge quantity of wood on the ground relative to the capacity of saw and panel mills in the area to use it, especially with the current market situation, implies that the vast majority of the wood must be stored in some way.
Logs left unprotected will soon be attacked by bacteria, sap-stain, fungi and, later, insects. Also, logs will split as they dry due to differential shrinkage in the tangential and radial directions, reducing the potential yield and value of the wood.
Clearly, the damaged trees must be cleared from the forest to minimise the risk of disease and fire.
The most practical solution is to collect the logs together in several large storage areas and keep them wet with water sprays. Inevitably there is a cost: Land rent, spraying systems, cutting logs to length, transporting and stacking them, and water.
Previous experience has shown that an efficient water spraying system needs about 15 m3/hour for 4,000m3 of stacked logs. If it is assumed that half of the wood on the ground were to be stacked, then the water requirement would be 75,000m3/hour, or 655 million m3/year. This is equivalent to 20 lakes the size of Derwent Water (for UK residents), slightly less than the volume of Lac de Biscarosse in the Aquitaine region (for French residents) and just over half of Lake George (for US residents and I’ll stop there!); in other words, a lot of water. This could turn out to be a limiting factor.
Water pollution could also become an issue, due to the ‘run-off’ from the stacks fouling nearby waterways. There will be some loss of wood
quality too, because many bacteria, and some fungi, especially Armillaria mellea, can thrive in the water-logged conditions.
If water storage is chosen, then it needs to be done quickly if it is to be efficient. Spring is in the air and with the warmer temperatures, bacteria and fungi will colonize fallen trees quickly.
Unfortunately, this situation is not new to the Aquitaine region because a similar storm hit just under 10 years ago and so, in some ways fortunately, there are people who know how to minimise the effects of this natural disaster.

Has the US economy and panel market hit bottom yet?
No, according to expert economists and market analysts addressing the Forest Products Society in Corvallis, Oregon.
Bill Keil was there to bring this report

In December 2008, Brazilian plywood manufacturer Sudati plywood industry ltda became the first producer of MDF in the state of Santa Catarina

The market has long been looking for a system to
significantly reduce resin
consumption in the
production of such products as low density, medium
density and high density
fibreboard. Sunds MDF Technologies AB in Sweden claims to have the answer

Press plate maker Kings Mountain International says all press plate requirements are available and that its “Surface Center” services the wood based panel industry, including hardboard, low pressure laminate and high pressure laminate suppliers.
The company’s graphics department will take you through some of the most intriguing designs, it says.
“Whether your requirements are abstract or custom fit plate to design, working with our unique Syncro Registration system, we can meet your expectations,” says KMI.
“This new groundbreaking high-tech process offers pinpoint accuracy and vastly improves your development time. Join our growing family of customers who are presently supplying these fantastic features.”
Kings Mountain International says it offers repeatable digital designs through chemically etched, mechanical finishes, mirrors and mattes and that its non-directional mirror equipment is now installed and delivering products.
From designing new plates and supplying customer’s custom textures, Kings Mountain also offers: press plate refurbishing, re-glossing, reconditioning and plate cleaning.
HALL 6.1, Stand B028

The theme for this year’s Ligna exhibition on May 18-22 is
‘efficient resource management’, reflecting the need for energy efficiency and careful resource management as the world faces the challenges of global
warming, let alone the economic challenges facing the industry

In this exclusive report for WBPI, Mike Botting travels to Slovakia to see in action the first fully functioning continuous press to be made outside Germany

More than 10 billion ft2 of capacity – about a third – has been removed from the North American market in the last two to three years, as manufacturers desperately try to restore some equilibrium to their businesses. Audrey Dixon, senior editor with Forestweb, reports

I said in my column in issue 1, 2009, that I felt like apologising for the number of gloomy stories in the news pages. In this issue, we have a record total of seven news pages – and therefore even more gloomy stories, I’m afraid. Sorry again!

Flamex Inc has appointed Edward Pridgen as product manager for the Minifog water mist system which is used to detect and suppress fires in composite board presses. Mr Pridgen, who has been with the company since 1997, will be responsible for North American sales and service.

UK-based Titan Wood Ltd, a wholly owned subsidiary of Accsys Technologies plc, is poised to launch new technology targeting the wood based composites market.
Branded Tricoya, the technology is claimed to significantly improve the durability and dimensional stability of wood chips, fibres and particles that are the main ingredients in wood based board and panel end products, including MDF, OSB and particleboard.
Titan Wood says its research has shown that the inclusion of Tricoya wood based composite materials significantly improves dimensional stability and durability, allowing wood based composites to be used in new applications, including outdoors.
Tricoya wood composite materials are also claimed to be sustainably sourced, non-toxic and recyclable.
Accsys plans to license Tricoya technology to end-product manufacturers around the world to develop new, high performance wood based composite products.
Accsys ceo Finlay Morrison said that Tricoya marks the first major technological breakthrough in the wood composites industry in more than three decades.

The recent bushfires in Victoria, Australia are estimated to have destroyed around 25,000ha of “merchantable” forest, according to VicForests, the organisation that manages timber harvesting in state forests.
The loss in terms of timber and “economic activity related to its harvesting” is reckoned to be A$600m (US$418m).
In addition to the loss of native forest, an estimated 18,000ha of pine and eucalypt plantations were also destroyed.
The worst hit plantation company was HVP Plantations which lost 16,500ha, or 10% of its estate. “Victoria builds 42,000 houses a year, so we have lost the equivalent of one-and-half years of timber used in housing construction,” said HVP’s chief executive Linda Sewell.
VicForests estimates it has 12 months to harvest salvageable timber before it dries out.

This year will be an endurance contest, but companies that adapt and survive will prosper as the economy rebounds, according to Rick Frost, Louisiana-Pacific’s Corporation's ceo.
Mr Frost made the comments during a March 2 conference call to discuss the Nashville, Tennessee-based company's fourth quarter and full-year 2008 results.
He said expectations for total US housing starts in 2009 had been adjusted down to 600,000, around one-third of the underlying demand. This will be the lowest demand most people have ever seen, and Mr Frost said business would have to adapt to a lower level of demand, or it would fail.
LP reported an overall fourth quarter net loss of US$339.4m, compared with a net loss of US$49.1m in the same quarter of 2007, with OSB sales down 42% from $186m in Q4, 2007, to US$109m.

A Russian investment company is planning to construct a major US$2.8bn forest products manufacturing complex for products including MDF, construction materials and pulp and paper, in southern Siberia.
The Buchansky project planned by the company CJSC Kraslesinvest is being located in the Krasnoyarsk region at the heart of Russia's richest area of untapped wood resource. Kraslesinvest, based in Krasnoyarsk, was set up by the state-run bank Vnesheconombank.
This complex, due to go on stream in 2011, is set to include a 250,000m3/year MDF line; a 700,000m3/year sawmill and a one million ton/year sulphate pulp mill. In addition it is expected to produce pre-fabricated housing components. It is due to create around 2,500 new jobs, according to Kraslesinvest.
The German company MAN Ferrostaal AG is responsible for project works and construction and production technology expertise is being provided by Montreal, Canada-based forest products consultancy KSH Solutions Inc.

Investigations into suspicions that seven particleboard manufacturers including VHI, the German wood based panels industry federation, have been involved in illegal price fixing between 2003 and 2007 is currently being conducted by the German Federal Cartel Office.
During a search based on a warrant issued by the Bonn District Court on March 4, 2008, officials seized documents that will be reviewed in the coming weeks to ascertain whether they contain incriminating evidence.
The companies involved are Glunz AG (Meppen), Pfleiderer AG (Neumarkt), Egger Holzwerkstoffe Brilon GmbH & Co KG (Brilon), Kronospan GmbH (Bischweier), Nolte Holzwerkstoff GmbH & Co KG (Germersheim), Rauch Spanplattenwerk GmbH (Markt Bibart), and Sauerlander Spanplatten GmbH & Co KG (Arnsberg).
The background as to why the Federal Cartel Office undertook the investigations is not clear at present.
There is an indication that tips from within the particleboard industry itself did not spark the investigations. Thus there are no cooperative witnesses working with the Federal Cartel Office providing the basis for the searches.
Source: Euwid

Indonesia’s plywood industry is facing the prospect of a further 40% drop in exports, according to the ITTO’s Tropical Timber Market Report.
The prediction is made by Abbas Adhar, deputy chairman of the Association of Indonesian Wood Panel Producers (APKINDO) and is based on the fact that the major importing companies of the US, the EU and Japan had yet to place any orders with Indonesian plywood manufacturers for 2009.
Art its peak in 1993, around 90% of the 10 million m3 of Indonesian plywood manufactured was destined for export, but by 2008 production had declined to 3.1 million m3, itself a drop of 27% on the previous year.
In 2008 2.5 million m3 of plywood worth US$1.5bn was exported from Indonesia.

Jeffrey Specialty Equipment Corporation and Rader Companies have merged to become Jeffrey Rader Corporation bringing the combined knowledge and experience of more than 150 years of manufacturing.
The product range encompasses size reduction, pneumatic conveying, screening and processing, material handling, vibratory feeders, and storage and reclaim.

Metso is to supply a new fibre preparation line to Shengda Forest Industry located in Guangyuan City in Sichuan Province in China with start-up scheduled for the end of 2009.
The fibre capacity is designed for 25 tons/hour of unresinated fibre. The raw material will be pine and mixed hardwood with the end product being MDF.
Metso equipment includes an EVO defibrator system, process automation as well as erection supervision, start-up and commissioning.
Shengda Forestry Group Co Ltd is a manufacturer of wooden flooring and decorative materials and is billed as one of the largest wooden products companies in China.

Portland-based GreenWood Resources is about to wager up to US300m on China, where soaring demand for cabinets, paper and furniture makes wood a hot commodity, reports Amy Hsuan in The Oregonian.
Poised to become one of the first US companies to invest in Chinese timberland, GreenWood seeks fortune by taking

Eumabois the European federation of woodworking machinery manufacturers which represents 13 national associations and more than 800 companies has recently signed an agreement for the support of the following shows:
*Dubai International Wood & Wood Machinery Show organised by Strategic Marketing & Exhibitions. The support is valid for the next three editions of the show: 2011, 2013 and 2015. The support for Woodshow 2009 (April21-23 is also confirmed.
*Wood Processing machinery organised by Tuyap Fairs in Istanbul. The 2009 event will be held on September 25-29 and support is valid for the next three editions: 2009, 2010 and 2011. Details of both events: www.eumabois.com

Brazilian panelmaker Berneck SA has completed ground preparation for the construction of a new wood products complex, to include a 414,000m3/year Siempelkamp MDF line, in Curitibanos, Santa Catarina state.
The initial phase of the complex includes production lines, pine wood sawmill and a biomass cogeneration energy plant. The preparatory work on the 287,000 square metre site began last September and was completed by the end of February this year with a workforce of 74 which has shifted some 1.4 million m3 of rock and earth.
Construction of the plant, whose buildings are due to cover an area of 80m2, is imminent.

Leading Turkish panelmaker Kastamonu Entegre Agac Sanayi Ve Ticaret AS is planning major panelboard expansion in Russia with proposals for two separate mill projects in the country's southwest.
But their progress is likely to be slower than expected in the face of the global economic crisis because of the company's need to secure credit to finance the plants' construction.
The more advanced project for a 300,000m3/year MDF plant to be located on a half a million square metre site in the city of Krasnodar in Russia's far southwest was scheduled for start-up in late 2010. However, this project is understood to be on hold at present.
The Turkish company is also planning to invest around US$100m in the construction of a second wood based panels operation further north east in the semi-autonomous Russian region of Tatarstan.
The company, which also makes plywood, particleboard and doorskins, runs seven plants, mainly in Turkey, but also in Romania, Bulgaria and Bosnia Herzegovina. It is also considering a plan to build an OSB mill in Bulgaria.

Plywood exports from Brazil’s Pará state dropped 41.4% in volume in 2008, compared to 2007, according to the Timber Exporting Companies Association of Pará (AIMEX).
Pará's forest products exports dropped in both volume and value across all sectors, with a drop in consumption by the US as a result of the economic crisis being a key factor claims the International Tropical Timber Organization. The US accounts for a third of the state’s total timber exports.
Delays in approving forest management and reforestation projects, along with unfavourable exchange rates, were also factors.
Pará's total forest products exports were US$631m in 2008, down 20.4% on 2007.
Brazil's Timber Producers and Exporters Association (ABPMEX) said the country's timber producers have reported a 40% cancellation rate of export orders, citing the global economic crisis. If demand continues to decrease, timber exports are expected to drop by 15-20% this year.

Structural panel prices will climb quickly when the expected market rebound occurs in 2010, as a greatly reduced capacity base strives to meet increasing demand, according to Greg Lewis, director of wood products for San Francisco-based industry information provider RISI.
In an article in Building-Products.com, Lewis said final figures for 2008 were expected to show North American structural panel demand at 34 billion ft2, 14% less than in 2007.
Demand is predicted at 31.9 bsf in 2009, but analysts expect housing to bottom out in the first quarter at a seasonally adjusted annual rate (SAAR) of around 710,000-715,000 units. For the year, starts are expected to exceed 1 million units (SAAR), and reach 1.4 million units in 2010, said Mr Lewis.
This will help lift North American wood panel demand, particularly OSB, in late 2009 and in 2010, when a 25% increase to 40 billion ft2 is predicted.

The American Home Furnishings Alliance (AHFA) wants the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to adopt a US national standard on formaldehyde emissions from composite wood products, similar to the rules adopted by California, reports Furniture Today.
AHFA's vice president of environmental, safety and health issues and standards Bill Perdue said a national approach to the issue was crucial to avoid conflicting state standards.
Current national formaldehyde standards for products such as composite panels are voluntary. In California, new rules to limit formaldehyde emissions started taking effect in January this year.
The AHFA has recommended that any national standard should follow California's lead by focusing only on hardwood plywood, particleboard and MDF, and by regulating only the raw board components of end products.

Tolko Industries Ltd has indefinitely curtailed its new OSB/engineered wood facility at Slave Lake, Alberta in response to ongoing poor business conditions.
The mill was in start-up mode, and the curtailment affects 112 direct employees, though some will be retained as needed to prepare the mill for an extended shut and to protect the facility for future restart, a statement said.
Brad Thorlakson, president, Tolko Marketing and Sales Ltd said customer demand would be met from the company's Meadow Lake OSB Division in Saskatchewan “until more robust and sustained demand occurs within the North American market”.

The Panel Products Company of Rogue River, Oregon is indefinitely closed. Employees said the mill had been operating on reduced hours for about a month.

Norbord has informed employees that it plans to indefinitely suspend production at its Barton OSB (Huguley) mill in Lanett, Alabama reports Random Lengths.

North American particleboard, MDF and hardboard shipments fell 25% in December to 404 million ft2 (3/4in basis), compared to 542 million ft2 a year earlier, according to data from the Composite Panel Association in Leesburg, Virginia.
For the whole of 2008, shipments were 6,899 million ft2, 14% lower than in 2007.
Particleboard shipments fell 17%, and MDF shipments were down 9% for the year, while hardboard shipments were 11% lower in 2008.

Panolite Inc, based in Lac-Mégantic, Quebec has been awarded a C$430,000 Canadian government loan to enable it to automate its manufacturing process and implement a commercialisation strategy for its lightweight ecological panels.
The economical honeycomb pressboard and recycled wood fibre panels can be used in the manufacture of kitchen cabinets and doors, commercial cabinetry, furniture and architectural design.
Panolite expects to create 10 new jobs with this project and hopes to gain a rapid market foothold by becoming one of Canada's largest manufacturers of lightweight panels.

New Zealand's Nelson Pine Industries Ltd has announced a restructuring of its MDF and LVL production operations in response to the difficult market conditions resulting from the global financial crisis.
The Richmond operations have cut back from a continuous 24-hour schedule to operating from Monday to Friday daytime hours only, with the loss of about 60 jobs.
Nelson Pine Industries is the South Island’s largest forestry processor, employing 265 people at the Richmond site.

Leading forest products group UPM, based in Helsinki, Finland plans to transfer the plywood processing operations from its Lahti processing mill to the company’s other plywood mills.
In addition UPM has temporarily layed off the entire personnel of its Kaukas plywood mill. Negotiations with all employees at both mills is ongoing. The reason for this state of affairs is the further weakened market situation of plywood.
UPM’s Lahti processing mill specialises in the further processing of plywood panels manufactured at the company’s own mills. The mill employs 110 persons.
The Kaukas plywood mill manufacturers uncoated and coated WISA plywood mainly for the transport industry. The mill employs about 320 people.
UPM has also started employee negotiations for temporary layoffs at all of its sawmills in Finland. UPM Timber employs approximately 900 people in Finland.

Imports of plywood into Japan dropped 24% in December 2008, compared with the same month the previous year, according to the Japan Lumber Reports (JLR).
Meanwhile annual imports fell to their lowest levels for 33 years, reaching 3.56 million m3, an 11% fall on the previous year.
JLR also reports that two major plywood mills, Seihoku and Seihoku Plywood had been raising sales prices since early February by 50 yen per sheet. Mills have been affected by low sales prices and have decided to raise prices with tighter supply.

The first Delhi Wood exhibition, held in New Delhi, India in February was reported a success by the organisers.
The event, covering wood working machinery, fittings, accessories, timber, sheet materials and engineered wood, attracted 287 exhibitors and 13,378 visitors.
“The response to the first show is ample proof that India is where the market is in times of economic adversity,” said Pradeep Davaiah of the organisers PDA Trade Fairs.

We regret to report that Ole Meyer Sorensen, 69, died on January 22. A native of Denmark Mr Sorensen was admired and well respected throughout the woodworking industry and beyond.
His involvement with the wood products industry began in 1971 when he established Moldow Dust Control Ltd in Greensboro, NC to market dust collectors to the furniture industry He was instrumental in introducing spark detection systems to North America and in the mid 1970s and in 1978 won a Challenger Award for the Flamex system.
Mr Sorensen also introduced the Minifog fine water spray system in North America in the late 1990s.
He was a member of many trade associations in the wood products industry and served on the National Fire Protection Code Committee 664 dealing with fire safety in wood working facilities.

Black Forest based Bürkle has supplied a fully automatic veneer press line to Hobb Holzveredlung GmbH, Bad Bentheim. The system is claimed to be the most flexible and state-of-the-art line in the world.

All products of Hindrichs-Auffermann are now being marketed under the Sandvik brand, and the legal entity Hindrichs-Auffermann-ZN der Sandvik GmbH has changed to Sandvik Surface Solutions-Division of Sandvik Materials Technology Deutschland GmbH.
The new email address is suface.solutions@sandvik.com and the new web address is www.sandvik.com/surfacesolutions.
Sandvik provides a complete service to the wood based panel, laminate and melamine coating industries from base to the surface.

Albion Devices Inc, an engineering company specialising in precision measurement instrumentation has acquired the assets of Ultrasonic Arrays Inc.
Albion Devices, which intends to operate and grow the business of Ultrasonic Arrays, will provide service to existing UA customers, expand the range of products that use UA technology and will aim to introduce products to new markets.
Albion Devices said it is excited about the acquisition, which complements its existing line of products while providing an opportunity for considerable market growth and diversity.

Con-Vey of Roseburg, Oregon has introduced its latest plywood stacker which can be added to existing saw lines. It is capable of stacking and squaring up to 30 panels/minute.

Elected to begin their three year terms in March 2009, TAPPI’s new board of directors Dr Gary M Scott (SUNY), Davide R Friedman (General Mills) and Thomas E Rodencal (consultant) will join Jeffrey J Siegel (Mica Corporation) and Norman F Marsolan who will serve two year terms as TAPPI chair and vice chair, respectively.

The US surface-coating plant of the Pfleiderer subsidiary Uniboard in Fostoria, Ohio was recently certified in accordance with the rules of the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC).

Ahlstrom, a global leader in the development ad manufacture of high performance fibre-based materials, has introduced a new resin-containing substrate, icoR, specially designed for use as core material in the manufacture of furniture laminates.
This new technology is designed to allow laminators to omit the resin impregnation phase prior to lamination, enabling an easier and safer production process.
The technology consists of producing a core material already containing the reactive phenolic resin needed to provide strength and internal bond to the final laminate.
As the resin is homogenously distributed into the material, icoR aims to lower the content of free phenol and free formaldehyde in the final laminate.

The whole world of Dieffenbacher is now clearly formatted on its new website. The clearly structured content on products and services ensures that the web pages can be continuously developed further and updated more effectively. www.dieffenbacher.de

Bayer MaterialScience’s Mondur polymeric MDI has been formulated for manufacturers of wood composites seeking binder materials that are compliant with the newest California Air Resource Board (CARB) environmental regulations.
The MDI binder is already said to be successful as a replacement for formaldehyde-emitting binders in flooring, cabinetry and other furniture applications.
These panel products meet CARB Phase II requirements regarding the level of formaldehyde emissions.

The global wood pellet industry has developed remarkably fast, evolving from being practically non-existent 15 years ago to being an important wood fibre consumer which is increasingly competing with the pulp and wood panel industries for wood raw-material, reports the Wood Resource Quarterly.
Global pellet production was close to 10 million tons in 2008 and it is estimated that production will double over the next four to five years and some industry exports forecast an annual growth of 25-30% globally over the next ten years, according to WRQ.
Europe is currently the major market for pellets, but the interest for non-fossil fuels in North America is growing.
The major raw-material used for pellet manufacturing has traditionally been sawdust and shavings from the sawmilling industry, As this supply has started to tap out, there is now an increased interest in searching for alternative fibre. It can be expected, says WRQ, that European pellet manufacturers will increasingly use forest residues, urban wood waste and fast-growing tree species.
They will also begin to compete more aggressively with pulp mills and wood panel mills for sawmill chips and pulp logs, claims WRQ. Imports of wood chips from overseas may also be an option for some pellet plants.

BP West Coast Products has made an offer on the 25 acre property of the Linnton Plywood Association reports Anne Saker in The Oregonian.
BP company spokesman Michael Abendhoff said BP officials are talking with federal and state regulators to satisfy environmental questions about the land before the sale.
“It’s premature to talk a lot about what we’re going to do with it,” but Mr Abendhoff said BP isn’t likely to build anything on the property anytime soon.
The Linnton Plywood Association, for 50 years Portland’s only plywood mill, has been closed since 2001. But for years before the closure, Linnton residents campaigned with city officials to do something different with the stretch of land in the neighbourhood’s heart, sandwiched between the Willamette River and Northwest St Helens Road.

Cost E49 workshop covering processes and performance of wood based panels will be held April 28-29, 2009 at the Hotel Novotel Istanbul, Turkey. www.coste49.org

Mark Osuna has joined the Globe Machine Manufacturing team as manager of new product development and sales where he will bring his experience of veneer and panel industries. He will work from Globe’s sister company, Burelbach Industires located in Rickreall, Oregon.

Ainsworth is to close its remaining OSB mills in Minnesota permanently, ending its production of the engineered board in the state.
The Cook and Bemidji mills are to be closed following a review of the long-term competitiveness. They had production capacities of 450 million ft2 and 350 million ft2 respectively.
There had been no production at the Cook site since January 2008, while operations at the Bemidji mill were curtailed in October 2008.
Ainsworth’s third OSM mill in Minnesota, at Grand Rapids, was permanently closed in August 2008, having sat dormant for almost two years.
“Market conditions since the third quarter of 2008, and the outlook especially for the US housing sector, do not warrant making the additional investments that would be required to make the two mills economically viable,” said Ainsworth president and ceo Rick Huff.

The European Panel Federation (EPF) AGM will take place in Spain on June 23-26, 2009.ANFTA, EPF’s Spanish member association, will host this year’s event in Santiago de Compostela.
The open part of the four-day event will once again be organised in conjunction with the European Federation of the Plywood Industry (FEIC ), which is also holding its general assembly in Santeigo de Compostela. EPF said this will give its members the chance to meet with leading European plywood producers.
A gala evening for members of both federations will be held on June 24 ahead of the combined meeting on June 25. www.europanels.org

A huge advertising campaign is being undertaken to reinforce the pre-eminence of European-made wood working machinery.
‘Made in Europe: Choose the original – choose success’ has been adopted as the slogan for the campaign by Eumabois, the European Federation of Woodworking Machinery Manufacturers.
Eumabois said the slogan was a general concept rather than a fightback against south-east Asian countries, where manufacturers are alleged to have copied European-made woodworking machines.
“The Eumabois campaign highlights the need to choose original machinery and technology that is the result of experience, research, commitment and expertise in wood,” it said. “This knowledge is the result of experience and cannot be copied.”

The Italian woodworking machinery industry has reported stable production figures for 2008 but predicts real worries in the coming months.
Preliminary figures from Acimall, the Italian woodworking machinery and tools manufacturers’ association, shows production dipped 2.2% in 2008 and was worth €1.82bn.
A fourth-quarter trend survey showed an order reduction of 38.8% compared with a year ago. Acimall said there was no denying that the global economic trend would bring heavy consequences to the woodworking technology industry.
Acimall president Ambrogio Delachi said the industry has to rely almost exclusively on its entrepreneurial spirit.

The 2009 China International Veneer and Decorative Panels Trade Conference will be held in Shanghai, China, April 27-29,2009, and is designed to build up a public platform for wood technology exchange and trade of wood and wood products. www.mujiaohui.com

Call for papers has been released for IPPS 2009 which will be hosted in Nantes, France, September 16-18, 2009. The symposium theme will be ‘Panel Products in Sustainable Buildings’. www.ipps.uk.com

Representatives from a wide range of organisations interested in the production and use of ‘poplar’ have created the non-profit European poplar association, in short Pro-Populus.
The new association is said to be unique in the sense that, for the first time ever, it assembles both growers, promoters and industrial users of poplar for the variety of uses it offers (panels, packaging, energy, etc).
Main goals of the association are to position poplar as a strategic raw material; defend and represent the production and use of poplar; and present a platform for information exchange.
The creation of the association is supported by CEI-Bois, the European Confederation of Woodworking Industries, where the association has its legal seat.

Laminate flooring manufacturer Pergo has been awarded a European patent relating to fold-down technology whereby a flooring panel can be locked simultaneously on two edges with panels which have already been laid.

European sales of parquet flooring declined in 2008, according to the European Federation of the Parquet Industry (FEP).
Total consumption in the EU area stands at 112m2, but compared with 2007 figures, sales fell by around 7%, mirroring the decline in the flooring industry, added the organisation. The last quarter of 2008 showed he steepest fall.
The slow down is attributed to the reduction of construction in what have been the parquet industry’s largest markets, Germany, Spain and France. The strength of the euro, declining confidence leading to low levels of investment and rising energy costs are also blamed.

Weyerhaeuser has reported a US$1.21bn loss for the fourth quarter of 2008. Company ceo Dan Fulton said the result, which includes a US$827m goodwill impairment charge, reflects the “speed and severity of the deterioration of market conditions”.
Weyerhaeuser’s net loss for the whole year was US1.17bn from continuing sales of US$8bn. This compares with net profits of US$790m and sales of US$10.8bn in 2007.
The wood products division made a loss of US$960m during the fourth quarter, mainly due to a US$733m goodwill impairment charge.

With the recent implementation of California Air Resources Board (CARB) legislation limiting formaldehyde emissions, BASF has introduced the Lupranate M20 Series of products which are MDI-based resins that do not contain formaldehyde and thus do not generate formaldehyde emission during application.
BASF said that these products are a viable alternative for composite wood manufacturers seeking a more sustainable way of doing business.

TAPPI has designated the 2009 Gunnar Nicholson Gold Medal to Dr Gary A Baum in recognition of his achievements of proven applied significance to the world’s pulp, paper, board and forest products industries and the other industries that TAPPI serves. The presentation will be made during the PaperCon ’09 Conference in St Louis, Missouri, US, May 31-June 3, 2009.
Dr Baum has had a long and distinguished career in the paper industry. He is currently president and partner of PaperFuture Technologies LLC, a company focused on application of new techniques and use for paper with an emphasis on intellectual property, technology, assessment, education and product development.

You would not expect a happy story from the producers of OSB in Europe and Latin America and so this survey will not come as a surprise. It is, inevitably, for the most part a story of holding tight and waiting for the upturn