The 2018 Carrefour International du Bois (CIB) broke new ground in more ways than one.
One stand at the recent Nantes timber show demonstrated virtual reality, 3D printing and robotics in wood product design, replication and manufacture. Another display from national construction initiative Adivbois wood showed the winners of its design competition; architects’ impressions of what will soon become some of Europe’s most advanced timber buildings.
The exhibition also co-presented its first innovation awards with magazine Le Bois International and there was a CIB debut too for France’s new €10m timber promotion campaign.
The 560-exhibitor event moved into new territory in attendance too. Visitor numbers were a record-breaking 11,500, up 10% on 2016. CIB international executive Samantha Padden attributed this partly to targeted marketing, “cross-referencing exhibitor and visitor databases to match buyers to suppliers”. She also acknowledged that the buoyant state of wider EU and French economies and particularly construction sectors provided a boost. France’s GDP rose 0.5% per quarter for the last five and is set for 2% growth this year, with its construction sector up 4.7% in 2017, and another 2.4% expansion forecast in 2018.
But, maintained Ms Padden, another factor also contributed to making this year’s CIB “the best ever”.
“There’s also growing confidence in wood as a high performance material and low carbon solution in an increasingly environmentally aware European market,” she said. “We saw that especially in our wood construction-focused show conference programme.”
The CIB raised its international profile again this year too. Over 37% of exhibitors and 29% of visitors were from outside France, with the UK providing the fifth biggest contingent.
It was not all positivity. While they reported healthy order books, European hardwood suppliers remain seriously concerned about raw material supply. The key preoccupation for French companies was levels of oak log exports to Asia, notably China, with the French Timber organisation reporting that, while France’s sawn oak output was still a healthy 615,000m3 last year, log exports to China now account for 23% of French harvest, against 7% in 2007.
“That’s pushed prices to peak levels, so while demand is good, everyone is trying to do more with lower margins,” said Jean- François Hublet of Belgian sawmillers Hublet, a leading UK supplier with a mill in France.
“The Chinese have lower costs, so greater flexibility on margin,” said Félix Julien of Eurochêne. “We’d like the protection Chinese industry gets, but the French government is against any measures they’ve taken, like insisting a proportion of public forest logs are EU processed, have limited impact.”
Mathieu Berthe of Tarteret, who cited oak log prices up 15% in 12 months, added that it wasn’t just exports limiting mill’s supply.
“Demand from French veneer and barrel makers has also risen – there’s pressure from the domestic market too.”
Despite France’s “hardwood log drain”, however, mills are not downbeat, underlined by continuing investment to boost yield and quality in a tight raw material market.
Tarteret has added a third climate controlled warehouse and new vacuum handling. Eurochêne has recently been adding a kiln a year, while Hublet has installed a grading, stacking and trimming line and Gillet log trolley.
Sawmiller Grouazel was also marketing oak alternatives, notably chestnut and robinier, including in the UK. Robinier has prospects, said export manager Jean-Paul Déroff, but is currently under-rated or just unrecognised across the Channel.
“It’s incredibly durable and suitable for ground and water contact untreated. In France it’s used for decking, decking substructures, piling and playground equipment, plus prestige applications, like the Eiffel Tower’s decking.”
While the UK remains predominantly an oak market for French hardwood mills – and still a buoyant one, despite pre-Brexit jitters, according to Mr Berthe who had despatched two truckloads there that day – it is accepting variations on the theme.
“We’re selling more thermo-treated there,” said Mr Julien, “including in ash, poplar and beech as well as oak.”
Judging by the number of stands featuring it, thermo-treatment is a trend still gathering pace across timber types.
Finland’s Lunawood highlighted thermo spruce and pine “3D-effect cladding”. The intriguingly moulded profiles, produced by processing partner Jukola, are designed to add light and shade interest.
“And customers can reposition panel strips for added variation,” said marketing manager Maija Masalin. “As it’s such a visual product it appeals especially to architects and designers, but it’s high performance too – withstanding testing from -40C to +40C.”
Rougier Sylvaco Panneaux debuted Mokalam thermo-treated tropical timber cladding, billed as western red cedar and IPE alternatives.
“It’s currently in okoumé and fraké, but we’re open to other species,” said director general Romain Rougier. “The idea is to add value to the most abundant, to make the most sustainable use of the forest.”
Rougier’s African operations are currently under strategic review after entering administrative protection. But Mr Rougier stressed that it was committed to staying on the continent, at least in the form of its successful Gabon forest management, sawmilling and plywood operations. “Our Cameroon business is more difficult, so we’re exploring options for it, and will make an announcement shortly.”
Other tropical suppliers brought up trading issues in their market too. Vandecasteele felt EU EUTR Competent Authorities were too quick to label sources high risk of illegality and were not giving importers sufficient guidance on proof of legality and risk mitigation. Tradelink also criticised NGOs’ blanket condemnations of particular supply chains, such as that of Brazilian ipe. But both expressed confidence about trade and were promoting range additions.
“The UK has become very risk averse and we’re now mainly selling temperate hardwoods there,” said Tradelink’s Robbie Weich. “But France, for instance, remains a very strong market for ipe and customers have clear confidence in our due diligence.” Tradelink also highlighted a new finger jointed rubberwood from Vietnam, and jatoba, a big seller in Nordic and Middle East markets.
Vandecasteele, which is currently adding 4ha to its existing 16ha of storage at Aalbeke, highlighted that it remained committed to sourcing Myanmar teak, undertaking quarterly due diligence visits to the forest. “We’re also introducing lesser known species, including mora from Ghana and ultra durable arancanga from Brazil, both available FSC,” said export manager Geneviève Standaert.
Vandecasteele additionally spotlighted thermo-treated launches in ayous, ash and pine.
Another CIB feature that attracted attention was the display of winners in the ‘Immeubles a Vivre Bois’ (wood buildings for life) competition run by the Adivbois wood building initiative. These are architects’ blueprints, but spokesperson Marion Cloarec-Simon said at least 50% would be built.
“Part of Adivbois’s campaign is to remove local authorities’ fear about building in wood, and these winning designs, for urban centres around France, have been well received by planners,” she said.
The buildings focus strongly on energy and other environmental performance criteria and are mainly CLT and glulam structures, including hybrids blending wood with other materials.
The government-backed Adivbois project has clearly given France and neighbouring countries’ engineered wood sectors an injection of confidence and several CIB exhibitors highlighted new developments. In the Basque country pavilion, Grupo Gamiz of Spain featured its hardwood glulam, including its oak range, which was Europe’s first to be accredited for structural application.
“Hardwood glulam may be more expensive than softwood, but its superior strength to weight means you need up to 20% less volume in construction projects,” said general manager Jesús Gámiz Urrutia.
French softwood sawmill Monnet-Seve’s stand featured a structure in its PLX softwood CLT, which comprises pine, spruce or Douglas fir and panels in three, five or seven ply and up to 3.5mx16m.
“We’re highlighting that, with our sawmills and other group businesses, we can now supply the range of timber construction materials,” said the company’s Pascal Berthelot.
A key focus for multi-faceted softwood specialist PiveteauBois was its new CLT plant, which comes on stream in August, billed as France’s first dedicated ‘industrial-scale’ CLT facility. The 10,000m2, €15m unit at Sainte- Florence will have initial capacity of 50,000m3 a year, but with scope to double.
“The annual French CLT market is estimated at 45,000m3 so we’ll be targeting export customers from the start, with the UK high on the list,” said UK export manager Elisabeth Piveteau.
The company, added managing director Jean Piveteau, had high hopes for the project. “As highlighted by Adivbois, interest in low environmental impact, prefabricated wood construction is increasing and availability of CLT made in France will meet French developers’ growing desire for local sourcing,” he said.
The French and wider European timber industries’ future focus was further underlined by the stand of the ‘Pour moi, c’est le bois’ marketing campaign and the joint presentation by technical consultancies Solfi12A and BoisHD and show organiser and regional association Atlanbois.
High specification and environmental performance timber building is one of the former’s core focuses. The latter, meanwhile, was letting visitors experiment with 3D printing and virtual reality goggles.
“This technology has real world commercial application and we’re showing the timber industry they can take advantage now,” said François Girard of Solfi12A.
As for the future of CIB, the organisers say it will be a challenge to match this year’s event, but a good one to have. “We’re asking how we follow that,” said Ms Padden.
“But we’re already getting exhibitor enquiries for 2020.”
