18 | Focus on OSB: Europe & Rest of the World


GLOBAL OSB CAPACITY DIPS


OSB capacity investment levels are being depressed by ongoing economic doldrums, but some projects are progressing nonetheless, reports Stephen Powney


I


n last year’s WBPI OSB report, we predicted that 2025 would most likely see some growth in OSB industries.


While some statistics published since then


would tend to back that up, the industry was still dampened by less than favourable economic conditions that have now persisted for about three years. To add further complexity and challenge, the Middle East flared up in conflict in February 2026, with Iran, the US and Israel trading attacks. As a result, fuel and chemical prices have


spiked, making operating conditions even more difficult for OSB producers, who need to increase product prices to keep pace with their cost trajectory. In terms of new capacity developments – the main focus of this report – there is some news from Europe, with Egger completing improvement works at the Wismar OSB mill, while Swiss Krono has confirmed it is no longer to seeking to build a new mill in France. Kronospan has a project at Tortosa, Spain, and projects continue in Chile, Kazakhstan and New Zealand. Russia still has several OSB projects on the books. In the last couple of years projects have been completed in China and one in Ukraine.


This report deals principally with


market dynamics and production capacity investments and changes, focusing on Europe and the Rest of the World, namely Asia, South America, the MENA region and Oceania. At the end of 2025, we estimate OSB installed production capacity for these regions at 18,063,000m3


, with the European


portion (including Russia, Ukraine and Belarus) at approximately 11,603,000m3


(up


slightly on 2024). Our North America Focus on OSB – preceding this report – has already outlined the situation with North America, showing a reduced installed 2025 capacity at 22,336,000m3


(2024: 23,896,000m3 ).


So, total combined world OSB installed capacity we estimate at approximately 40,499,000m3


for 2025, a reduction of approximately 3% or 1,260,000m3 on 2024.


EUROPE The European Panel Federation’s (EPF) annual statistics are a very useful marker as


to the state of play for European panel mills. As this edition of WBPI was going to press, the EPF annual meeting and conference was coming up on June 12, 2026 – when the 2025-2026 EPF Annual Report was due to be released. It’s OSB production output statistics – for 2025 – will be part of that. So, the most recent EPF stats available are for 2024, which show the final OSB production figures that year were 7.1 million m3


– a 5% rise on the


previous year. This is in line with what we expected in last year’s WBPI Focus on OSB report. The 2025 stats are broadly expected to be similar to 2024. For the whole European wood-based panels industry EPF recorded a 2.7% growth in output during 2024 to 58.1 million m3


.


These stats have to be viewed in light of a -6.2% reverse in 2023. Note these EPF figures relate to production, not capacity and are for EU27 countries (whereas WBPI statistics include additional countries). German Federal Government statistics


show that the country’s OSB industry achieved a marginal increase in production during 2025 – up just over 1% to 1,228,699m3 (2024: 1,213, 993m3


). The second half of the


year was down compared to the same period in 2024. However, the value of Germany’s OSB production did increase more strongly. Publicly available financial statements for leading OSB producers are also a good indicator of market dynamics. Global OSB giant West Fraser, which has


two OSB mills in Europe – in Belgium and Scotland – has made several statements recently about increasing costs. West Fraser Europe levied a temporary surcharge to its panel products, effective on deliveries from April 2026.


“This action has become necessary due


to increases in energy, transport, resins and other chemicals,” it said to customers. The company said the Middle East instability was a big has contributory factor with a direct impact on the manufacturing costs of OSB, MDF, and particleboard. Chemical and feedstock supply chains are directly affected.


WBPI | Summer 2026 | www.wbpionline.com “These increases are affecting both UK and


European suppliers and have now reached levels that can no longer be fully absorbed,” it added. Transport and logistics costs are now


elevated due to higher fuel prices. These pressures affect both inbound raw material transport and outbound delivery of finished goods. West Fraser Europe surcharges levied were as follows – OSB: 2.8%; particleboard: 4.8%; MDF: 9.2%; adhesives & fixings: 4.5%. The company said it hoped situation was temporary. Other European panel manufacturers also added surcharges in the spring, ranging from 3% up to 12%, with reviews being made regularly.


More broadly, West Fraser said in January 2026 (before the Iran conflict) that it expected its 2026 OSB output in its US and European divisions, will either be static or slightly lower than 2025. Demand in the Europe division was forecast to be similar or improve slightly from 2025 levels, with OSB shipments targeted to be 1.0 to 1.25 billion square feet (3/8-inch basis) – the same range predicted for the final 2025 shipment tallies. West Fraser’s annual results, published in


February 2026 show the Europe Engineered Wood Products segment reported adjusted EBITDA of US$5m (2024:US$8m). Sales were US$493m (2024: US$453m).


OSB production was broadly similar to 2024. Sales increased compared to 2024 due to higher OSB product pricing in local currency terms and the strengthening of the GBP against the USD, offset in part by lower particleboard and MDF product pricing. Meanwhile, Egger reported stable business development against the previous year’s level in the first half of its 2025/2026 financial year despite a persistently challenging market environment. Egger declared consolidated revenues of €2.15bn (+2.6% compared to the same period of the previous year) and EBITDA of €293.3m (-8.4% compared to the same period of the previous year).


The ongoing weakness in consumer spending, weak construction activity in the core markets and global uncertainties


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48  |  Page 49  |  Page 50  |  Page 51  |  Page 52  |  Page 53