A construction boom and a buoyant economy have combined to give Spain’s timber and wood products and woodworking machinery industries a massive boost – and the players were out in force to show what they can do at the country’s biggest trade event – FIMMA-Maderalia – held in Valencia on November 12-15.

FIMMA, the international fair of woodworking machinery, and Maderalia, the international suppliers’ fair for the furniture and wood industry, attracted 1,119 exhibitors between them this year and more than 3,000 foreign buyers.

The growing number of exhibitors, along with a demand by half of those who attended the last event for more space, resulted in the show having around 72,000m2 of exhibition area – 7% more than at the last event in 2001.

Spain is the biggest importer of wood in Europe and Francesc de Paula Pons Alfonso, general-secretary of Confemadera, the Spanish Confederation of Woodworking Industries, explained: “Our sector employs 250,000 people and represents 40,000 factories. Many are little companies which enables them to be dynamic and competitive.

“The biggest success of the industry has been the growth in our exports in the past six years – mainly doors, which are sent all over the world.”

EU growth

Mr Alfonso said Spain faces a big challenge with the growth of the EU. “Some countries don’t have the same environmental requirements and their prices are low so we believe the way to our success is through design, added value and giving clients more of what they want.”

Portugal remains Spain’s first export market, with the UK, France and the US close behind. Mr Alfonso said: “Russia is also a big market and we think we can do something there, plus we are looking at Australia and New Zealand.”

Turning to trends, he said flooring and doors are becoming more and more part of the overall design in buildings – transforming an idea from an industry product to a fashion product.

Architect José Luis Fernández Cabo from Madrid agreed that timber and wood products are becoming increasingly important in Spain. “In the past 10 years there has been a big growth in architects’ use of wood. They are using it in construction, floors, doors and windows and, although it may not be used as much as other materials, it is becoming more important.

“Facades – facings for buildings – have been introduced but we have a cultural problem in that people don’t understand that wood changes its colour and shape, and they don’t like that.

“There is a real interest in wood among architects but at the schools of architecture there were virtually no courses about the use of wood. That is changing now: in my school in Madrid there are two courses – post and undergraduate – about structural timber.

“It is a case of changing the mentality and getting people to learn about wood, and we are speaking with a lot of people about this. There has been real interest in wood in Spain in the past – then it stopped for different reasons and people became more interested in steel and concrete. We need to make them move back to timber.”

Structural timber

David Venables, European director of the American Hardwood Export Council (AHEC), which had a presence at the show, agreed there is growing interest in structural timber in Spain, with growing promotion of materials such as glulam. “There are some increasingly good examples where wood is being used in construction,” he said.

“There is a very strong hardwood industry in Spain – it produces between 10-11 million doors annually, but they have gone from solid wood to real wood veneers which accounts for more than 80% of production – and 80% of that production remains in Spain as the construction industry is booming. There is a lot of refurbishment going on, plus the economy is good which encourages home ownership and people are putting value into their homes.

“The Spanish are catching up with the Italians in terms of design and innovation,” said Mr Venables.

“There is a strong link with tropical hardwoods – the big one was always sapele mahogany but now 60% of what they produce is American white oak – Spain is the largest market for that species anywhere in the world.”

Wood flooring

Mr Venables said there is growing interest in wood flooring throughout the country – and the colours are getting lighter.

He added that Spain does not have the environmental demand that there is in the UK, but companies want to show their green credentials and have a good working dialogue with NGOs such as Greenpeace and the WWF.

Spain is getting a name throughout Europe for design, he said. “Fifteen to 30 years ago it was a copier like China is now, but it is focusing more on service, innovation and technology in its products,” he said. “European producers are beginning to look much more closely at Spain than they used to and Spain is switching from tropical to temperate hardwoods.”

José Miguel Jiménez, president of AEIM – the Spanish Association of Wood Importers, is also excited about the design potential for wood. He said Spain has a high number of architects, many of whom are young and looking for ways to develop their professional careers.

“It is a great opportunity to excite them with something new – such as new applications for wood – and there are great possibilities in Spain where the construction sector is continuing to grow.”

Thirteen Swedish companies – 11 sawmills and two floor and panel manufacturers – took part in Maderalia. Products exhibited included sawn, planed, edged and precision cut wood, and floors, panels and posts.

Spain imports approximately two million m3 of coniferous wood and 500,000m3 of pine a year, and Sweden is the principal exporter of coniferous wood to Spain, representing 25% of the total of this species.

Processed timber imports

In order to avoid big investments in machinery and to increase production, Spain is importing more processed timber – but its machinery sector is buoyant.

José Manuel Menoyo, secretary-general of AFEMA – the Association of Spanish Manufacturers of Wood Machinery, Equipment and Products, said that in Spain the manufacturing sector of machinery, tools, equipment and products for the woodworking sector is made up of around 110 companies whose main markets are France, Italy, the US, UK and Germany.

He added: “The sector has experienced a modernisation and is fully competitive. We are comparable, technologically speaking, with our German and Italian competitors.”

While Mr Menoyo is aware that competition from German and Italian competitors is fierce and growing, he and his members are more concerned about the second-hand machinery market.

He said: “This machinery continues to be introduced into the market with a total lack of compliance with European safety standards. In recent years we have even seen these machines exhibited in major international trade fairs.”

John Collier of John Collier Woodworking Machinery has imported Intorex wood turning machinery to the UK from Spain for around 25 years.

“When I first started with Intorex they did just a basic lathe and had not really gone into the pine market – it was all beech and oak,” said Mr Collier.

“The first Woodmex it came to, it brought a single point copier and its quality was terrible because it couldn’t cut pine properly so Intorex developed its tooling and started to improve. Then the pine furniture market took off and we had a boom in 1995-98.

“A lot of things cropped up in the UK – people wanted fluting or barley twisting or special features and Intorex will always try and co-operate and change the standard machine to make a special.

“When I started working with them, I would say Intorex was third or fourth in the market but now it is a clear leader – something it has achieved in a short time. It has this aggressive attitude where it won’t take second best and it won’t be defeated. If people need a special, it can normally turn something around in 60-90 days. It is a well-organised factory with an extremely well-equipped store room and if I place an order at 11am one day, I will get the goods by 11am the next.”