Modified wood brand Indurite admits that the technology is facing a “tough market” at the moment and there are no current plans to engage in any promotional work.
The only application of the wood hardening technology is currently in France, following Osmose’s decision earlier this year to terminate its global agreement, originally struck in 2004, to commercialise the technology.
“We are only very active with Indurite in France because the cost of raw materials has risen so much,” said Gary Bjorndahl, Indurite marketing director.
He admitted it was not easy to find clients to switch from established oak products without a price advantage.
“There are a number of similar technologies that have been set up in the last 10 years and rising energy costs and material costs have caught up with a lot of them and it’s quite a difficult sell,” he said.
“There is also a large quantity of tropical hardwood coming from South America.”
Osmose Europe marketing director Andy Hodge told TTJ that the company had made a corporate decision to end its involvement with Indurite after it had explored use of the technology on internal products, such as flooring.
He said modified woods were a great product but were very expensive [to produce and sell].
“When you put it into a competitive environment [against established hardwood products] it did not really compete,” he added.
