After a strong first nine months, the European MDF industry is set for another year of record production, according to the European Panel Federation (EPF).
Speaking at the Batimat construction show in Paris this week, EPF president Frans de Cock said that, after a weak spring, the third quarter had proved “remarkably good” for the MDF manufacturers. European consumption has risen to over 10 million m3.
OSB consumption, said Mr de Cock, is forecast to climb to over 2 million m3. This he said was good news, although still left demand some way off European production capacity (estimated at 3 million m3 a year).
“Fortunately given this situation no new production capacity has been announced for western Europe, but there is an investment under way in Russia and rumours about plans in Romania,” said Mr de Cock.
In the first six months of 2003, European particleboard consumption fell by 4.9% to around 12.5 million m3, with production capacity falling a further 540,000m3 to 39.9 million m3.
Speaking at the same event, Nicola Reni of the European Plywood Industry Federation (FEIC) said that his sector had put in a strong performance so far in 2003. Following last year’s production of 3.4 million m3, European plywood manufacturers reported 3.4% growth in output in the first six months of this year and are on track for a total for the year of 3.5 million m3. Consumption in the first half rose 4%, with strong demand in the UK (which accounts for 22% or European sales), Germany and Finland pushing the market along.
