In part l of our survey of the world particleboard manufacturing industry during 2010 (WBPI Issue 5, 2011, p14), we looked at particleboard capacities and markets in Europe and North America and reported a “mixed picture”.

For this report, we look at particleboard capacities up to the 31st December 2010 in Europe and North America – and find a mixed picture. As would be expected, given the depressing economic news which continues to emanate from North America, there is little to report from that region (US, Canada and Mexico) and certainly no new capacity planned of which we were aware as we went to press in early September. There were, however, a number of mills that changed ownership last year and some that closed – either completely or ‘moth-balled’ for the foreseeable future.

In part l of our survey of the world particleboard manufacturing industry during 2009, we reported an improvement in the market in parts of Europe after the severe blows of the global economic crisis, while North America continued to suffer poor demand.
In part 2 of our 2010 survey of capacities in 2009, we look at the mills outside Europe and North America and find a number of plans for expansion, particularly in South America, as well as in various parts of Asia.
Our capacity figure for the ‘Rest of the world’ industry shows an increase of 1,917,000m3 over the 2008 capacity of 28,507,000m3. This represents a rise of 6.6% to 30,391,000m3 for 2009.
This increase is mainly accounted for by new mills – listed in our survey of 2008 as coming on stream in 2009 – doing just that.

After the very downbeat report on 2008 in last year’s survey (WBPI Issue 5, 2009), our survey of 2009  shows some improvement in demand from the third quarter in Europe and earlier curtailments of production were able to be reversed, while some planned further cuts were avoided.
There was, however, one closure made in 2009 in the EU15 countries. Short-time  orking was commonplace again last year, as manufacturers tried to match supply more closely to demand.
The North American market remains very depressed and figures for housing starts also  continue to make depressing reading, with little hope on the horizon at this time.

2008 will long be remembered as the year when the global economic downturn, occasioned by the collapse of the US and European housing markets, encountered the global financial crisis. In many ways the two events were linked through the sale of toxic assets comprising dubious housing loans among the world’s banking community.

It is our fervent wish that this year’s survey and report of particleboard capacity changes in Europe and North America will not be repeated for its illustration of the dire conditions of the current state of the industry. Since the 2006 survey, the declining fortunes of the industry have been reported with sadness and trepidation. The author and WBPI editor have felt like gloom-laden messengers from ancient Greek mythology.

If there were any lingering doubts about the division of the panel world into two principal regions, the results of the 2008 survey must dispel them. The original EU15 countries and North America have settled into the slow lane while the ‘Rest of the world’ is accelerating in the fast lane.

Regarding particleboard capacity in North America and western Europe, never has our headline phrase been more appropriate. The 2008 WBPI survey of particleboard capacity reveals that for North America and the EU15 countries, capacity in 2007 increased by just 0.4%. Overall capacity in the entire region including eastern Europe and Russia increased by 4.6% or 2,769,000m3 – entirely located in eastern Europe. The macro-economic parameters governing North America and the EU15 were not at all conducive to expansion activities in particleboard and, in fact, contributed to a virtual paralysis of
the industry.
The analogy of the Western Front in Europe in World War One is quite apposite; the industry has almost reached the stage of ‘trench warfare’.

This survey, covering North America and Europe to end-2006, contains more than 70 modifications and additions to the listings published last year. The new information received has had an effect on the previously forecast capacity change for 2006 and 2007; for North America and the EU15 countries this has not been positive. Some information was received too late for inclusion in the survey and this is true for most years. It is one of the reasons why the starting point for capacity change, the mill listing, is given for end-December of the year prior to publication; 2007 thus becomes a forecast year.

The Mauro Saviola Group comprises a total of 16 companies involved in particleboard and MDF manufacture and surfacing, ready-to-assemble furniture and furniture component production, as well as laminate and edge-banding and resin manufacture.
Headquartered in Viadana, the Saviola group also has operations in Switzerland and Brazil, Argentina and Belgium.
Total group particleboard production capacity is in the region of 1.5 million m3 per year, with 100% of the raw material coming from waste wood, or ‘the urban forest’ as it is also known.