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*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 *Obituary: Gerhard Dieffenbacher former owner of Dieffenbacher Group *Further plea to cut subsidies for burning wood in power stations *Obituary: Ted Bauer a leading player in the world of MDF *Plywood house building system trialled *Latvian plywood producer posts 20% annual sales growth *Browns picks Caberwood for new plant *Martinsons revokes redundancies plan *Egger records 5% growth in half-year profits *Cowie is first Norbord site to achieve safety milestone in Europe *Slower decline registered in German particleboard exports *Momentous start for Arauco but marred by mill fire *Homatherm reschedules start of ex Isoroy particleboard plant *Pfleiderer continues to grow its revenue and operating income in Q3, 2011 *Kronospan takes OSB plant to Russia *Successful 2011 for Andritz *International Wood Composites Symposium *GreCon wins award for Contilog *Sonae restarts particleboard production at Knowsley *China timber product exports reach US$31.5bn *Kronospan takes train from Devon to Wales *Plywood competitor panel production doubles *Weyerhaeuser joins the TTF *Egger’s new wood recycling plant is opened *Raute receive over €16m orders from Chile *Nordlam expands glulam production *Steico reports reduced profits *New study on effects of mountain pine beetle infestation *Canfor to permanently close two mills *Mary Jo Nyblad assumes APA chairmanship *BSW Timber explores modified wood technology *interzum had 13% more visitors than in 2009 *Xylexpo 2012 looking to 20% increase in show space *Second annual UK Biomass Directory *Dirk Eiynck changes to Vauth-Sagelto to expand innovative capacity *Green and cost-effective sound reduction product *Norbord extends range of particleboard flooring products *New OSB plant to be constructed in Russia *Belarus to invest €500m in particleboard and MDF production by 2016 *Lumin plywood PEFC certified *Poplar Association extends reach *Patent granted for MDF recycling business *Tungsten prices and availability still tense *Significant changes in HPVA Laboratories staffing *Latina conference 2012 on innovation and new challenges *Homag profitability improves in Q3 *Biesse's net losses reduce *NPPD dinner: “Its tough out there” *UK panel product imports grow, solid wood declines *False BBA claims for Pine Deck plywood *Indonesian timber product companies record losses *Major campaign launched to stop trees going up in smoke *Eumabois says a big thank you to Fulvia Scherini *Brazilian laminate floor makers fight off Chinese imports *Eucatex looks to invest in north-east Brazil *Puhos tries to sell off plant assets *Sonae has had to delay Knowsley restart *Norbord reports C$12m earnings and record productivity *New composite material to open up wide range of end-uses *Premier buys assets of FG Hawkes *Masisa opens Chile’s first MDP line *Weyerhaeuser faces challenging markets, but remains in profit *UPM records operating loss for Q3 *Accoya plans international expansion *Pallmann achieves global success with wood shredding technologies *Woodchip take from Karri forest increased *Three new biomass plants could consume the entire UK forest harvest *ZOW Bad Salzuflen 2012 *Interzum Moscow in sixth year *WMF 2012 & FAM 2012 in 14th showing *ZOW Istanbul proving a success *Petri Lakka appointed to Raute executive board *Pfleiderer streamlines its executive board *Third wood pellet conference hosted by Sweden *Finnforest launches panel for railway interiors *UPM donates composite decking for disaster relief *Modified wood specification manual *12th edition of WoodMac China *Change of head of marketing at Steinemann *Furniture grade OSB gains market share *Kronospan builds Belarus wood processing plant *Biesse acquires Chinese machinery maker
Mixed fortunes in world OSB markets
Published:  14 February, 2007
As we start a new year, the tables have very much turned in the OSB industry worldwide, as our surveys in this issue reveal.
In last year's report on the market in 2005, North American mill owners were well inside their 'comfort zone' after three years of unprecedented demand and the associated bumper profits. However, they were, it is fair to say, viewing 2006 with some caution as forecasters talked of a marked fall in housing demand. The reality was far worse.

It appears that nobody in the industry expected the market to fall off the peak as precipitously as it did in 2006 and now the mood of the OSB producers is decidedly glum as they face what one spokesman called an "extended period of excruciating pain".
Some commentators are less pessimistic, but it seems generally agreed the good times are over, for some time at least. In Europe, the reverse seems to be true. Our survey of 2005 reported doom and gloom, with prices too low and demand falling. This year we can report prices up, consumption up, order books full and a generally buoyant attitude, in spite of new capacity coming on stream in the Czech Republic and, soon, in Latvia. Of course costs have risen dramatically too, so we are not talking about tremendous increases in profits by any means. But things definitely seem to be headed in the right direction. To paraphrase the song: "What a difference a year makes" - in both the North American and European OSB industries. The other major feature in this issue is the Focus on South East Asia, with reports from Thailand and Indonesia. There is a lot happening in that region, particularly Thailand, and we report on two mills which are still under construction: Green River and Metro and two new lines running - SPB and Vanachai. There is also news of further new particleboard capacity to come in both Thailand and Indonesia; and MDF in Thailand. This is in spite of the fact that the Thai market is currently rather over-supplied with panels, so these developments seem to indicate an underlying confidence in the future. It has been a long time since a new mill was built in Indonesia and it would seem that, given the per capita consumption of panels there, SPF's planned particleboard line should not have so much trouble finding a market. Meanwhile, long-established plywood and MDF maker, Sumalindo, claims to have put a lot of effort into its wood sourcing in Kalimantan, with FSC certification for a growing part of its production (no pun intended!). The problem is, are the European consumers prepared to pay more for 'responsibly sourced' panels?



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