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produces 25,000m3 output is 100,000m3
, while annual treated .
While it’s “ultra-busy” in France, after attending the Timber Show in Birmingham, Moulinvest is interested in developing UK business. “We’re looking for importers and distributors, notably in Wales and Scotland, and particularly interested in developing Douglas sales,” said Mr Tixier.
Raw material supply was also highlighted as an issue by cladding and panelling producer Sivalbp, which sells in the UK via Vincent Timber (
www.sivalbp.fr). “The EU embargo against Russia means finding alternative larch sources,” said UK sales representative Yves Baudin. “But we’re adapting.”
Demand, he added, continued to increase, including to the UK despite post-Brexit trade bureaucracy. Attracting particular interest at the show were grey New Age, designed to achieve slow, ultra-uniform silvering, and a matt variant in Sivalbp’s Elegance cladding, both in cedar, Douglas, Nordic pine and thermo-treated larch. Also catching visitors’ attention was black, shou-sugi-ban-style thermo-treated pine Vintage. Sivalbp sees France’s new RE2020 environmental regulation, stipulating use of more bio-based building materials, driving cladding and timber consumption – and its new brochure highlights wood’s low global warming potential; 1.29kg/CO2
of Douglas cladding compared with 55.4kg for brick.
Mr Baudin added that Sivalbp is looking for a sales/distribution partner in Ireland. Protac, part of the €105m Groupe Rose, alongside Norsilk and Estonia-based Puidikoda, was targeting designers with its highly textured Struktur spruce cladding and panelling (
www.grouperose.com). Tongue and groove Sawblade and Snake feature, as the names suggest, rough hewn and reptile skin surface effects and are available in Charbon,
Protac’s version of the scorched wood look. Andrew Goto of Timber Focus, which represents Groupe Rose in the UK (where its annual sales are £6m), anticipates Struktur having major appeal here (www.
timberfocus.com).
An ongoing preoccupation of French oak and, to a lesser extent, beech mills is continuing high log exports, notably to China.
“French oak mills require 1.7 million m3 a
log harvest. That’s not sustainable,” said Eric Ducrot of Eurochêne sister mill Les Avivés de l’Est (
www.eurochene.com). “Government measures now ensure a proportion of logs from state-owned forest undergo some processing in the EU. But without more action we’ll see further industry contraction.”
year, but France exports 30% of its 2 million m3
That said, Les Avivés/Eurochêne are upbeat, reflected in their development of more value-added components and a new high-yield sawline. “Securing our log supply is critical, but we must also invest to increase automation and efficiency,” said Mr Ducrot. He added that the companies’ UK exports remained robust, comprising largely oak boules for door and furniture production, beams and square-edged beech for furniture legs.
emitted per m2
Faced with tightening global raw material supply and rising prices, leading French spruce, fir and Douglas processor Monnet- Seve is also focused on added value (
www.monnet-seve.com). The company operates five mills and two glulam plants, processing 1 million m3
of logs annually.
“We’re investing increasingly in second and third-stage transformation, including in kilning and planing capacity” said CEO Thomas Seve. “We’re also developing a biofuel operation.”
Mr Seve also said the impact of the Ukraine war on larch supply was having a price
knock-on across softwoods and clears. But he too saw environmental regulation boosting French timber demand.
Long-established French poplar and
okoumé plywood producer Drouin was highlighting latest developments in its poplar ab pano brand acoustic panel range, also partly inspired by the opportunities in wood created by RE2020 (
www.abpano.fr). Fire-retardent treated and incorporating mineral wool, these are produced in 25mm variants for domestic use and M1-rated 50mm for commercial.
“Depending on installation, ab pano products achieve NRC levels of 0.95,” said the company’s Frédéric Castaings. Ducerf was showing Bard 106, a carbon finish thermo-treated poplar cladding, highlighting the oak specialist’s increasing penetration into second transformation markets, with a new saw line and scanner recently added to increase yield and produce more material for further processing (
www.ducerf.com).
Currently 15% of Ducerf’s sawn output is destined for its value-adding facilities. The goal is 50%. “We’ve invested €8m in five years and plan further developments, with the focus on efficiency and ergonomics,” said export manager Florence Perrucaud. “With societal trends boosting timber product demand and mounting pressure on raw material supply, the future will be increasingly in second transformation products.”
Brexit has complicated Ducerf’s UK business, but it is now growing. As for exhibitors’ views on the CIB itself, the general consensus, according to Ms Padden, was that it was “the best ever”. And she was upbeat the momentum can be continued in 2024. “We’re pretty much at capacity exhibitor-wise unless we push back the walls! But there’s always room for visitor growth,” she said. ■
Above left: CIB is “about timber and only timber” Above right: The show is a platform for unveiling latest ranges and corporate developments
www.ttjonline.com | July/August 2022 | TTJ
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