In 2022, European MDF production and sales were significantly down on the highs of 2021, while across the EU and the UK the impacts of the Russia/Ukraine conflict including Belarus were also being seen.
Rapidly rising energy costs plus associated issues around the export embargoes of key consumables were felt, both on industry costs and consumers’ pockets, which translated also into higher product costs.
The impact on inflation was countered by increasing interest rates and the result was less consumer confidence and spending. These realities have been seen across all markets.
The outlook for 2023 is still subdued although some are suggesting we are nearing the bottom of the dip with some possible growth potential in the latter stages of 2023 and into 2024. With MDF being one of the more energy intensive products to manufacture, there has been reduced output, with energy costs and reduced consumption weighing on producers.
Global stocks were already in bear market territory. What the Russia/Ukraine conflict did particularly for Europe, was to exacerbate and speed up the decline.
News of upcoming new European MDF mills is listed in Table 1. Included are the major investments by Yildiz Entegre of Turkey overseas in Vladimir, Russia, and in Turkey itself, the investment by Starwood at Inegöl, with 600,000m3, plus Kastamono Balikesir with 500,000m3 and the Homanit project in Lithuania (310,000m3). Additionally, we can also now include the planned Slovakian Kronospan MDF mill in Zvolen with an anticipated capacity of 450,000m3.
Kronospan filed an application with the Slovakian Ministry of Environment for an environmental impact assessment for an MDF mill planned in Zvolen back at the start of 2021. According to the submitted paperwork, the new mill is to make MDF 6-38mm thick. Work to build the mill is to commence within two years of receipt of the required permits. It will then take another 18 months for commissioning to take place.
Kronospan sro currently operates a particleboard line in Zvolen, which features an 8ft x 45m Contiplus press from Shanghai Wood-Based Panel Machinery Co Ltd (SWPM) that was commissioned in October 2007 and has an annual capacity of around 600,000m³.
The new line replaced an older multiopening line with a capacity of around 180,000m³ per year. Kronospan gained the mill in Zvolen in June 2003 when it acquired particleboard operations from the beech converter Bucina as.
In Russia the LLC Luzales MDF investment in Syuktvkar Russia we understand has started production in 2022 and therefore is moved to the main listing
In the US and building on last year’s report, the CalPlant 1 (Eureka MDF) project rice straw-based MDF plant in California became a production reality, albeit slowly, with an initial start-up in 2020 but sadly since filed for bankruptcy and more latterly then went into a process of closure and liquidation. So it remains to be seen what the future will hold for the site and the installed machinery.
In contrast, the latest positive news in the US is the recent announcement by Roseburg Forest Products to invest US$700m to upgrade and expand its manufacturing operations in southern Oregon. More on that later in this article.
In Mexico, the positive capacity developments outlined previously progressed well.
The South America-based wood-based panel giant Arauco is running the former Masisa’s MDF facility in Durango and announced in November 2021 a US$200m MDF project in Zitácuaro (Michoacán) to double its capacity, due to start up in 2025. Proteak Uno (Pro MDF) has been renamed Technotable, in Huimanguillo.
This year’s survey once again provides listings of design capacity in the two regions as at the end of 2022. We also show the changes to capacity expected during 2023 and beyond.
Total all-European installed capacity reached an estimated 30,021,800m3 in 2022, compared to 29,526,800m3 in 2021 and 28,931,800m3 in 2020.
All MDF mills continue to work hard to optimise their installations and look for continual production refinements and as always, new product developments to maximise the opportunities that exist within their individual facilities.
This survey continues to be published in two parts; the second part will deal with the rest of the world outside Europe and North America and will be published in the August- September 2023 issue of WBPI.
The author and the editor of WBPI remain grateful to all those organisations and manufacturers as well as other industry professionals, who made valued contributions to help us build this narrative. We are always pleased to receive new information regarding design capacity changes at any time during the year.
EUROPEAN CAPACITY
Ongoing investments in Turkey continue. For its second production plant near Inegöl, Starwood’s second thin-board plant to produce thin MDF/HDF boards with a capacity of 225,000m3 started up in September 2022. This has been added to the main listing. This is the fifth time that Starwood has chosen to use Siempelkamp’s ContiRoll press technology.
The site had previously been used for wood chip production. It supplements the capacity of approximately 750-800m³/day currently being produced on the first 7ft line.
The new 8ft line is designed for a capacity of an additional 1,000m³/day. It is geared to the production of thin boards, but can also be used in furniture board production for MDF and L-MDF up to 22mm.
Very thin MDF boards are increasingly being used, for example, as furniture back panels, top layers of doors or drawer bottoms. Thin MDF can only be produced economically with very fast-running plants. The new plant for Starwood is therefore designed to run at 2,000mm/s.
The core of the scope of supply is the moulding and press line around the 9thgeneration ContiRoll continuous press in the 8ft x 28.8m format.
Additionally, Starwood has commissioned Dieffenbacher to supply an MDF line in Inegöl, Turkey, that will include a 9ft x 63.5m CPS+ press, the largest continuous woodbased panel press in Turkey. Production capacity will be 600,000m3 with start-up expected in 2023.
Following the engineering phase, installation started in the second quarter of 2022.
In addition to Turkey’s largest continuous wood-based panel press, Dieffenbacher will supply the dryer, sifter, and glue preparation technology as well as the forming station and forming line. Downstream of the press, Dieffenbacher will deliver the press emission control system, raw board handling, STS storage system and the sanding line. Dieffenbacher is also responsible for the plant electrics and automation.
With the prospect of Turkey continuing as a growing market for wood-based panel plants, Dieffenbacher sought to strengthen its business activities in Turkey by appointing Isik Zorcu as project manager in a newly established Dieffenbacher Liaison Office Turkey.
Back in 2001 fellow Turkish wood-based panels manufacturer Kastamonu Entegre (Istanbul) announced plans to expand its Balikesir particleboard plant, located in western Turkey, by installing a brand new MDF/HDF system with capacity of 500,000m3.
The company ordered the relevant machinery via GIM Export Group GmbH & Co KG (Göttingen). The plant became operational earlier this year and will be added to the main listing next year.
Deliveries from Siempelkamp included sifters, a forming and press line with a Generation 9 ContiRoll in 8ft x 63.7m dimensions, a cooling and stacking line, interim storage as well as a sanding line.
Other suppliers include Siempelkamp subsidiary Büttner (fibre dryer), Steinemann (12-head grinding machine), Andritz (disc chipper and the refiner).
Parallel to the new MDF/HDF plant, Kastamonu Entegre is installing four shortcycle (SC) presses at its Balikesir facility. Two are second-hand plants (Wemhöner) from AZ MDF, while two are new plants (Wemhöner) being delivered to Turkey in the course of 2023.
Within the scope of the overall project, Kastamonu also plans to establish impregnation capacities in Balikesir; negotiations concerning placing of a treater order are apparently still ongoing.
Next there is Germany’s Homanit, which has boosted its manufacturing presence in the Baltic states by investing in Lithuania. Homann Holzwerkstoffe, which already produced MDF successfully in Poland, is investing €115m in constructing a new thin HDF production facility in Lithuania and this facility, which had been due to start up in 2022, we understand will now be completed in 2023. It will have a capacity of 310,000m3.
The company has plants in Losheim am See, Germany (currently being modernised) and in the Polish cities of Karlino and Krosno Odrzanskie.
For its new site in Pagirai near the Lithuanian capital of Vilnius, the company has installed a complete low-emissions THDF plant from Dieffenbacher. Dieffenbacher supplied all components, from debarking to stacking.
The core of the plant features a stateof- the-art thin board forming and press line based on a CPS+ continuous press and a Dieffenbacher PROjet gluing system. Dieffenbacher is responsible for the automation of the new line. The THDF plant is designed to keep emissions to a minimum while producing 1.5mm to 22mm thick MDF.
The new Lithuanian facility should expand Homanit’s foothold in the three Baltic states, but also allow the manufacturer to export a larger share of the group’s production beyond Europe.
Homann Holzwerkstoffe GmbH also intends to boost its capacity by purchasing a stake in the Egyptian MDF manufacturer Nile Wood. The Nile Wood project is designed with a 200,000m³ per year capacity, which is expected to climb to around 400,000m³ per year when a second production line is added.
In 2022, Homann inked a joint venture with Nile Wood’s parent Egypt Kuwait Holding (EKH).
The deal sees Homann Holzwerkstoffe buy a qualified minority interest in the holding company Global MDF Industries BV, which in turn controls Nile Wood. According to EKH, Homann Holzwerkstoffe will have a 27% shareholding, which will be transferred in two instalments. Upon closing, 16.2% of the shares in Global MDF Industries will go to Homann Holzwerkstoffe. This stake will rise by another 10.8% once a new line currently being installed via Nile Wood in Sadat City starts operating.
The transaction also includes two wholly owned subsidiaries of Global MDF Industries, which will secure the supply of raw materials to Nile Wood’s MDF mill. One company manages short-rotation plantations for Sesbania timber, which is used to make MDF. According to a recent EKH investor presentation, the company had acquired almost 600ha of Sesbania plantations in a first step. The second Global MDF Industries subsidiary will provide adhesive resins.
Homann Holzwerkstoffe’s total capacity will increase to 975,000m³ once the mill in Lithuania goes into full production. Subsequent plans to replace the forming and press line in Losheim are expected to further increase capacity.
Meanwhile, Italy continues to be caught up in the challenges caused by the somewhat long-term decline in furniture production locally, coupled with the construction sector’s reduction in activity. Bipan (Luigi Frati) and Plaxil (Fantoni) remain the two long-term domestic MDF brands and producers.
Fantoni has been developing a process to produce MDF utilising at least 50% post-consumer waste raw material. The objective of the Plaxil 8 plant borrows three-layer panel technology from the chipboard production cycle, with the system programmed to create MDF the central layer of which is made with over 50% recycled material.
Looking ahead, the trend in Italy and indeed Europe is towards utilising increasing percentages of recycled wood raw materials. It’s still in the early stages, but this is expected to grow and grow.
Weight issues also continue to dominate selection of materials. For certain components, MDF with a density of less than 500kg/m3, whilst maintaining high quality, is finding favour alongside higher density items of 700kg/m3+, for special use. Also, products produced as sandwich elements (core honeycomb with surface 2.5mm or less HDF) are helpful when weight issues need to be addressed in the final furniture product.
More broadly and in the short term, the Ukraine/ Russia conflict and inflation topics have dominated the last 12 months. During this period, it has been very hard to assure MDF production and that is why there have been calls by the European Panel Federation (EPF) for EU mitigation measures, specifically a secure gas supply; the cascade use of wood; prioritise wood-based products in line with the green deal; reduce regulatory burdens wherever possible.
Clouds on the horizon include consumer demand is expected to drop; supply chains remain a challenge; and too many sectors are looking at wood (with subsidies) as a way to decarbonise, leading to great concerns about wood availability for traditional materials, such as panels.
For France, we understand the MDF market and supply has been quite depressed and difficult particularly in the trade related sector. It has been noted previously that the market for thin MDF was particularly strong as vinyl flooring appears less accepted and HDF-based laminate flooring is apparently still coming back in force.
As reported last year, the previously privately owned Panneaux de Corrèze was acquired by Unilin Group and this acquisition apparently was part of Unilin Group’s strategic growth ambitions and will allows its Unilin Panels division to better serve the French market.
The facility produces approximately 150,000m3 of raw MDF panels with its production plant in Corrèze, in the centre of France with 110 employees. The company is well known for its excellent quality MDF panels, strong brands, and sustainability innovations.
The panel division of Unilin Group – Unilin Panels – is a European market leader and the company also operates two MDF/HDF lines in Bazeilles, northern France with a combined annual capacity of about 700,000m³. Unilin Panels aims to achieve 25% growth by 2025 and be the market leader in Belgium, the Netherlands and France.
Thanks to its ‘Next’ range, Panneaux de Corrèze had a great deal of expertise on reducing the use of fossil raw materials to manufacture its panels. The company launched its ‘Next naturalpanel’ line using the Green Ultimate bio-based, formaldehyde and PMDI-free adhesive system developed by Evertree.
In contrast, the Finsa-owned Mediland MDF facility in Morcenx, south-west France closed two years ago. The mill, formally owned by Willamette industries and then Weyerhaeuser Co, was a part of Finsa France. The Morcenx facility has become a strategic distribution point in France for Finsa’s woodbased panel products coming from Spain.
The consequence of these recent developments means that Unilin Group is now the sole producer of MDF in France.
In Portugal and Spain, investment in new technology continues and Finsa is installing Dieffenbacher glue-saving technology in two production lines in Nelas, Portugal.
Two PROjet systems will help reduce glue consumption in MDF production. Another PROjet and an EVOjet P will be used in a line that produces boards with a particleboard core layer covered top and bottom by MDF surface layers. The PROjet will be used in surface-layer gluing, whereas the EVOjet P will be deployed for the core layer.
Installation and start-up of the four Dieffenbacher glue-saving systems are scheduled for late summer.
In recent years Kronospan has emerged as a powerful player in the Iberian Peninsula and it now competes seriously, with the long established and locally based groups. One of the company’s goals remains to increase its market share in Spain and Portugal by 20%-30% whilst still consolidating its export markets.
Kronospan may well continue to set itself apart from the rest of the industry by building new sites in eastern and southern Europe, expanding several central European locations, and carrying out more acquisitions.
But its proposed acquisition of Pfleiderer has been abandoned. The deal would have created a dominant player in the markets for the supply of raw and melamine-coated particleboards around the parties’ plants in Poland and the Baltics.
The European Commission decided the proposed transaction would have negatively affected competition in these markets, leading to higher prices, reduced quality or less choice for customers. The deal had involved two Pfleiderer particleboard mills and a thin MDF/HDF mill at in Grajewo.
In Germany and the Benelux there has been growing interest in moisture resistant (MR) boards.
Some users are also looking for enhanced quality and the market saw the launch of MEDITE OPTIMA, a higher density board with greater machinability than standard MR.
And sustainability is also a big focus area, with EU regulations on formaldehyde levels raising interest from customers about the resins used in MDF manufacturing. This has led to growing research and interest in bio-resins.
Back to Homanit GmbH & Co – it announced extensive investments in its site in Losheim am See (Germany) in 2021. This includes a new fibreboard press as well as further accompanying measures for the finishing of fibreboards, costing in the region of €65m.
The geostrategic location of the plant was one of the key factors for the comprehensive investments. The Losheim am See plant, which primarily serves the door industry, benefits from a good supply of raw materials, as it co-operates with regional and sustainable forestry operations and maintains long-term relationships with its suppliers. The aim is to start production in 2024.
In the UK and Ireland there were no new capacity investments or change from the three main MDF players – West Fraser, Kronospan and MEDITE (Coillte) and all had relatively strong order books in 2022.
Construction of the Tricoya wood elements plant in Hull had been put on hold in November 2022 to assess future capability and funding options. The plant is designed to produce the modified wood fibre that is used by MEDITE to make Tricoya modified wood panels.
At the same time, Accsys Technologies agreed with its partners – Ineos, MEDITE, BGF and Volantis – to acquire 100% ownership of the plant.
“We have also been in discussions with certain strategic partners with a view to providing appropriate funding necessary to complete the Hull plant’s construction,” Accsys said.
“To date, the company has been unable to reach acceptable terms with any of these strategic partners.
“In view of the strong market dynamics underpinning Tricoya, the board of Accsys continues to believe in the underlying attractive economics and margins associated with completing the construction of Hull and therefore will continue to explore funding options to support the plant’s construction, including strategic partners and lending institutions. Absent the availability of third-party funding, the company will use modest levels of internally generated cash to maintain the plant and progress certain preconstruction works.”
In the Nordic region (Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Finland) there are no production facilities for MDF, but the influence of the well-known Swedish furniture group IKEA, in terms of global design trends in the competitively priced self-assembly sector, remains significant.
IKEA states it will use more recycled fibre in MDF manufacturing as well as promoting the introduction of fossil-free binders. This development is focused on particleboard with a smaller number of initiatives in the fibreboard arena currently. The issue of recycling MDF at the end of its use remains an important topic of research in Scandinavia and elsewhere and the wood sector will benefit commercially and technically from new recycling methodology, currently being developed and seen in other industries. Several different technologies have been developed, including by MDF Recovery Ltd, which recently signed an agreement with leading recycling technology supplier PAL.
In Russia, the Sheksninsky plant in Vologda has plans to increase combined production of MDF and particleboard, which is estimated at close to 1 million m3 in total, by 30-40% in the coming years.
The MDF/HDF investment at Vladimir – capacity 424,000m3 – by the Turkish wood-based panel and laminate flooring manufacturer Yildiz Entegre, is believed to be operational later in 2023. Also, there is LLC Luzales, which has been constructing an MDF facility with a planned capacity of 270,000m3 near the city of Syktyvkar in Russia. The new plant was commissioned during 2022 and this has been added to the main listing.
Taking our main table listing from 2021, which shows a total installed capacity of 29,526,800m3, and then finetuning information with adjustments and corrections and with new capacity already installed in 2022, we reach an estimated total of 30,021,800m3. Then, with the future new mills listed in Table 1 European capacity development, we now have a forecast figure of 32,305,000m3 as the total European capacity for 2023 and beyond.
NORTH AMERICA CAPACITY
In the US and Canada overall, the year in terms of production and sales of MDF showed continued momentum in 2022 but recently the market for housing and wood products has deteriorated. Pricing for commodity building products like lumber, OSB, and softwood plywood have tumbled, although prices for composite panels such as MDF have fared better,
Housing is showing some life, especially in multi-family, but affordability and high interest rates are keeping a damper on things. Housing prices are falling in many markets, mainly the same ones where prices escalated the most during the upswing. Lower prices are helping affordability, even with higher interest rates.
The most exciting news to report is that Roseburg Forest Products announced on April 14, 2023, that it plans to invest US$700m over the next four years to upgrade and expand its manufacturing operations in southern Oregon, where the company was founded nearly 90 years ago.
The investment includes the creation of two new, state-of-the-art manufacturing plants at the company’s Dillar complex, as well as technological improvements and upgrades at existing plants in rural Douglas and Coos counties.
Dillard MDF will use wood residuals from Roseburg’s local mills as well as other regional mill suppliers to manufacture standard MDF, as well as thin HDF – often used in cabinetry, doors, and other applications. The plant will produce panels with a thickness range from 2mm to 28mm.
“HDF is a new product for Roseburg that meets growing customer demand for domestically manufactured panels of increasing thinness and strength,” said CEO Grady Mulbery.
“Dillard MDF will be one of the most technologically advanced plants of its kind in the world, and it alone represents US$450m of our US$700m investment.”
Dillard Components will convert specialty MDF panels manufactured at Roseburg’s MDF plant in Medford, into Armorite Trim, a finished exterior trim product for residential and shed use. Roseburg will invest roughly US$50m in this plant.
The two plants together will be capable of producing 310,000m3 of MDF per year, 124,000m3 of primed Armorite and 90 million ft of interior mouldings.
The company anticipates that both new plants will begin operations in 2025 and will employ approximately 120 people once completed.
“Not only are we proud of our long history in this region, but our focus on advanced manufacturing and innovative technology makes us an excellent fit for the future,” said Grady Mulbery .
The MEDITE MDF mill in Medford, Oregon has operated well in 2022 under the ownership of Roseburg. The Medford, Oregon plant is a well-run facility and the acquisition represented a key strategic move for Roseburg in its evolving composite panel business, ahead of the Pembroke, Canada purchase and then the Potlach Deltic Corp, 265,000m3 MDF mill at El Dorado, Arkansas.
Last year we reported that the small town of Libby, Montana had announced plans to possibly convert an old factory to an MDF plant using forest residuals. The plans include the purchase, relocation, and recommission of an old, small, facility in Dubuque, Iowa.
The County had contracted an engineering firm to inspect the machinery and would be relying on a private-public partnership to bring the equipment to Lincoln County. Officials were working with MoFi, a nonprofit, non-bank lender, on market tax credits and the facility would be worth more than US$40m.
Sadly, we have to report now that in the end, sufficient finance was unable to be raised, so the project is not going ahead.
Whilst not MDF as such, it is appropriate to report that the US door manufacturer Steves & Sons Inc placed an order for two Siempelkamp forming and press lines for the production of door skins.
The Texan customer also placed an order with Siempelkamp subsidiary Büttner for two fibre dryers and an energy plant. Steves & Sons, a Texas family-owned company, is entering the door skins manufacturing business with this project.
The two press lines each consist of a fibre classifier, mat forming, forming line and the multi-daylight press yielding millions of door skins per year. For the press line design, the focus was specifically on the wide product variety, combined with the minimisation of trim waste. Commissioning and start-up is scheduled for 2024.
The investment project by Swiss Krono for the new HDF / MDF plant at its facility in South Carolina has progressed successfully and is running well. The plant at the Barnwell site has been expanded extensively to strengthen the HDF and laminate divisions throughout the Group. The plant has a production capacity of around 280,000m3 of HDF, which is intended primarily for laminate flooring production in the company’s own plant.
CALPLANT 1 CLOSURE
The CalPlant 1 (formerly CalAg – Eureka MDF) project rice straw-based MDF plant in California was the most dynamic news feature for us to report on in recent years from the US as plant based raw materials start to emerge as viable and alternative raw material sources other than wood. The US$400m project was in development for more than 20 years, since the principals first shipped California-grown rice straw to England for testing.
In November 2020 CalPlant 1 started up production and officially launched the Eureka MDF brand – the world’s first commercially produced, no-added-formaldehyde, rice straw-based MDF. But before reaching full production capacity (248,000m3), the company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in the federal court in Delaware.
And in recent months a liquidation plan was announced and closure notice issued to all employees, so that assets could be sold.
The mill was designed to produce MDF in thicknesses of 2mm to 30mm and many believe the project to be the first serious attempt of its kind, noting the investment, research and development, and roster of industry veterans who had thrown their weight behind the project
Meanwhile, in Canada the Great Plains wheat straw-based MDF project moves forward in Alberta.
Back in 2021, Great Plains MDF announced it has selected a site for its greenfield wheat straw-based MDF plant and has added two industry veterans in Lanny Hammock as vicepresident, sales and marketing and Wade Gregory as vice-president operations to its team and has now also formed an alliance with a major construction firm.
The plant with a design capacity of 849,000m3 is planned to be built in Kneehill County in Alberta, Canada.
As a latest update (April-May 2023) the company said the funding process has been slower than anticipated, but Great Plains MDF is in the final negotiations and contract stages and hopeful that it will be able to break ground at some point in 2023. The Great Plains development plan will see Great Plains pursuing permits with all the appropriate regulators (Government of Alberta, local municipality) in the coming months. Great Plains Innovations is the parent company of Great Plains MDF. It intends to build a series of similar facilities across the Canadian prairies and elsewhere over the next 10 years.
MEXICO
In Mexico, we see the three projects that we highlighted previously progressing well, with all of them being fully operational.
Total nominal production capacity of the MDF plants in Mexico has been adjusted up to 823,000m3/year, such a significant change from the small capacity of less than 80,000m3 only a few years ago.
Celulosa Arauco y Constitución plans to double the MDF/HDF capacities of Arauco Industria de México by installing a production line at the Mexican site in Zitácuaro (Michoacán). The company plans to invest around US$200m in the project. With production expected to commence during 2024-25, depending on the progress of the approval procedures still required, this will ultimately add 300,000m3 to the facility. The plant will employ 220 people during its operation and its supply seeks to promote a circular economy model, empowering small local forest producers and safeguarding the ecosystem values of their surroundings.
To date, Arauco México has produced raw and coated particleboard at the Zitácuaro site.
Following the takeover, the production capacity of the two sites was indicated at 339,000m³ particleboard and 220,000m³ MDF/HDF. The MDF/HDF facility in Durango, supplied by Dieffenbacher, has been operational since the first quarter of 2016.
The main incentive for the companies, that together have invested more than US$400m so far in state-of-the-art manufacturing facilities, is the very promising outlook in the Mexican market.
No continuous process plants existed in Mexico a short while ago and per capita consumption remained very low compared to most countries. Also, the Mexican furniture industry is characterised by a comparatively high use of solid wood and plywood in relation to particleboard and MDF. Therefore, the perceived opportunities towards the continual future increase of MDF in the Mexican furniture manufacturing industry remain extremely positive.
Mexican wood panel producers are still driving several market development initiatives, which are gaining momentum and are at the forefront of a campaign to promote wider use, particularly of MDF, by the national furniture industry. The panel makers are continually educating Mexico’s furniture designers (both current ones and young students) and manufacturers in the potential and versatility of working with MDF which, with its workability, is a natural substitute for traditional solid wood.
So, total North American installed MDF capacity for 2021 and 2022, has been recorded as static at approximately 5,818,000m3. But now, with the newly planned Mexican capacity, along with the futuristic and large Canadian wheat straw-based MDF project and the new US investment announced by Roseburg, our table showing forecast future capacity gives a figure of 7,277,000m3 for the North American area for 2023 and beyond.
HOW THE LISTING WAS COMPILED
The WBPI listings published in 2022 were reviewed, and modifications made, using other published sources and data received directly from the mills and industry experts. Published information was reviewed for news of capacity changes. These sources include relevant trade magazines, association reports, press releases and equipment suppliers’ reference lists.
Self-completion enquiry forms were distributed to the mills, requesting current and future capacity data.
The mills own reported design capacities are used wherever possible because this is the basis upon which they can make their estimates of future capacity and production changes. Where this information is not available, published sources are used, usually on a basis of 330 operating days per year.
Conversion of ft2 to m3/year is made with 1,000ft2 equal to 1.77m3.
In September 2011, Geoff Rhodes established GRA as a specialist forest products and international trade consultancy, providing independent in-depth assessment of markets and market potential for wood-based panel products.
Geoff is well known for his pioneering work over many years driving the introduction and huge expansion in the use of MDF in the UK and international markets. He is a former President of the Timber Trade Federation (TTF), the European Association of MDF Manufacturers (EMB) and the Fibre Building Board Federation (FIDOR) and a former Board Member of the European Panel Federation (EPF). He is also a Fellow of the Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining. In 2017 he was the recipient of the TTJ’s Lifetime Achievement Award for services to the timber industry.
geoffrhodes.associates@gmail.com
