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*Wood products industry leaders take to Capitol Hill *Formaldehyde-free panel products *India to promote responsible forest management *FMC China 2012 to run with FMC Premium *Ainsworth reports higher OSB volumes and prices *Ligna 2013 to focus on skilled worker shortage *Latin American panel producer explores modified wood panels *Premier buys Ireland-based Brooks Group *Thermopal sets strict standards in formaldehyde emissions *ORIS OSB project chooses Carmanah *GKD expands global presence by opening subsidiary in India *Xylexpo below par proves a disappointment *New Moralt business emerges with Anglo-German support *Norbord's North American operations overtake European divisions *Parquet markets present polarised picture *Weyerhaeuser reduces wood product division losses *Second OSB plant for Dieffenbacher in China *Latvijas Finieris celebrates 20th anniversary *Istanbul woodfibre conference with field trips *UKFPA appoints Hazel Newman *Indian plywood conference and a Golden Jubilee *Siempelkamp comes to the rescue of Pallmann *Berneck starts board production on second MDF plant at Curitibanos *Dieffenbacher to design new pellet plant *Masisa to acquire resin production assets from Arclin *Pöyry to publish investor report on Asia Pacific panel and surfacing industry *US demand for siding to exceed 960 million m2 in 2016 *Teknos first to offer 12 year coating warranty for Medite Tricoya *Wood pellets exports from US and Canada to Europe reach record high *Norbord goes live with new UK website *GP and Sherwood Lumber enter engineered wood products distribution agreement *Schelling’s interaction of saws and storage raises productivity and lowers costs *New marketing manager for Coillte Panel Products *Weyerhaeuser engineered wood business grows *Wood fibre flooring and panels suspended *Canada Wood gets behind Wood Awards *Masisa invests US$40m at sites in south east of Brazil *Arauco to raise low pressure panel laminating capacity in Brazil by 50% *Pfleiderer profits grow as parent company files for insolvency *Masisa plant closures and re-modernisation *Homag sales rise but group still records net loss *Arauco and Unilin link up in flooring deal in Brazil *Entrepreneurs spearhead project to build MDF plant *Hans Theodor Pfleiderer relinquishes posiktion on superviksory board *Egger invests in new continuous laminate press *Speciality oil lfor continous fibreboard presses *Interprint wins prestigious award *Mathias Fischer becomes sales director of GreCon *OSB campaign is JOSB well done, says Norbord *First melamine embossing line *Reeta Kaukiainen joins Metsä Group *Joint development between BASF and Finsa *BASF increases its prices for resins and dispersions *Chris Sutton to chairman TTF NPPD *Metso orders pour in for fibreboard industry *Everything you need to know about SEWP *Arauco halts MDP production in Curitiba *Third Coe dryer for Martco plywood plant at Chopin *Successful 2011 for Dieffenbacher Group *Dates for GreCon seminars *Floraplac to install new thin fibreboard production line *Italian woodworking machinery has positive 2011 *AWC statement on Obama’s biobased product procurement memorandum *Potlatch names Eic J Cremers as executive vice president and cfo *TTF engineered wood products division has first meeting *German ZOW attracts 17,500 visitors *Kronospan spends £5.5m on UK embossing first *It’s another “tough year” for LP *Latvian plywood mill hit by fire *Biggest orders yet for Raute from Chile *Weyerhaeuser predicts better wood products performance *Metsäliitto predicts challenging wood products outlook *Canfor ceo writes new blog *Surface Design Show to feature awards scheme *FSC terminates Asia Plywood licence *Steico launches loft panel product *Sonae plant gets hit by fire again *MSc Timber Engineering course at Edinburgh Napier Univeristy *Second Wood Markets conference to be held in Vancouver *Sandvik focus on short-cycle press plates and endless belts for CPL *Pavatex gives Siempelkamp order for wood-fibre insulation board plant *Berneck postpones second continuous press MDF line *Tablemac plans to launch first MDF line at Barbosa *NFP Europe appointed agent for Tecsol
Mixed messages from the markets
Published:  30 October, 2010

T his issue of WBPI looks different. As you turn the pages, you will notice that the layout, the colours and the typefaces are all new to the magazine and we hope that you will agree that it is sharper, cleaner and easier to read.
It has been some years since we last had a redesign and I think our designer, Gavin Middlemiss, has done an excellent job in updating the panel industry’s favourite magazine. We would welcome your feedback on this, or any other aspect of WBPI, as we are anxious to ensure that our content meets your needs. Just send me an email.


Meanwhile, out in the world of panel machinery, I have been getting the same reply to one question for some time now. That question is: “where are your most active markets at the moment?”. The answer is always: “Latin America, China, Turkey, eastern Europe”.
In this issue, it is the turn of Latin America, or more specifically Brazil, to be the main regional focus of the magazine and our regular Latin America correspondent, Richard Higgs, brings us a selection of up-to-the-minute stories, beginning on p26. It is good to find that not all countries around the world are downbeat and living under the shadow of the global economic storm clouds. Brazil is already recovering from its more modest downturn and panel companies there are looking optimistically towards the future and the prospect of rising domestic, and to some extent export, demand.
There has also been a lot going on in terms of company mergers, new lines and new players in the manufacture of MDF, where Brazil’s favoured product, medium density particleboard, is feeling the pressure from its fibreboard competitor.
Staying with Latin America, Bernard Fuller gives us an economic overview of the markets in Brazil, Chile and Argentina and also has some comments on the present and future influence of China on the region’s export potential (p50).
Part one of our particleboard survey, on Europe & North America, not surprisingly reveals a grim recent past and a depressing outlook for the producers, in the latter continent at least.
However, in Europe, things do seem to be improving and here Turkey features again, plus a number of other expansion plans in the pipeline, in both eastern and western Europe.
Pleasingly, our news pages also feature a number of upbeat financial reports from panel makers in both North America and Europe. These may be due as much to cost cuts/downsizing as to improved sales, but it is a move in the right direction.
The IWF exhibition in Atlanta, US, in August reflected the poor state of the economy, with even fewer exhibitors than at the last edition in 2008, the year of the big impact of the nation’s economic problems. It will be interesting to see what has changed in the North American, and world, markets by the next show in 2010 – let’s hope there is significant improvement.

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