In August, environmental lobby group Greenpeace was urging buyers to “write a tight specification making it clear to your contractors and sub-contractors that you want FSC-certified OSB and plywood” in its report entitled “Setting a new standard: alternatives to unsustainable plywood in the UK construction industry”. At that time, the report was widely seen as a boost for OSB, in particular, since it hailed the product as a “locally sourced, competitively priced” alternative to plywood.
However, subsequent calamitous developments in the economic and financial worlds seem to have prevented OSB producers from extracting any sales benefit. Most, if not all, manufacturers are understood to be operating at no better than break-even – or significantly below in certain instances.
“Current prices are not just bad, they are unsustainable,” said one source. Another described prices as “cut-throat”.
Pockets of decent demand are still being reported in Europe, particularly further east. However, demand in the UK and most parts of western Europe has been flagging, largely in response to the construction malaise. “Everybody is being very cautious and not putting on any stock,” TTJ was told.
And even though confidence levels seem to have improved in the wake of the bank bail-out plan, it is widely considered that “a lot of the damage has already been done” for OSB because so many projects have already been postponed.
