Garnica promotes solution to Russian birch plywood shortage
4 June 2023Spanish plywood producer is attempting to woo European birch ply buyers with its alternative specie products in light of the sanctions on Russian products and shortages of birch ply.
Garnica says it is promoting its Reinforced product, a mixed hardwood core plywood which combines poplar and Eucalyptus Globulus, to the birch plywood buyers. Garnica also has alternatives for other applications such as construction, transport and packaging with the Laudio range, which is Radiata Pine based plywood from certified farms in Northern Spain. The Radiata Pine core is reinforced with Eucalyptus Globulus.
Under the fourth package of sanctions, no Russian or Belarusian wood products can be imported into the European Union and other allied countries, which severely restricts the amount of birch plywood on the European market. Russia exported more than one million cubic metres of the product to the EU in recent years.
At the same time, the international timber certification bodies FSC and PEFC have declared wood from Russia, Belarus and the conflict zones of Ukraine to be “conflict timber”, causing their certifications to be suspended for the duration of the conflict.
Garnica says its alternatives are suitable for all applications.
Garnica has an estimated turnover of €350m, more than 1,200 employees and seven production sites - five in Spain and two in France.
