4 | Contents


Contents APRIL / MAY 2024


NEWS 06 — EcoReFibre takes step forward 07 — Andritz reports solid Q1 results 08 — IMA Schelling holds In House event 09 — Homag and Luli Wood strike strategic agreement 10 — Rob Elias joins MDF Recovery 11 — Dieffenbacher supplies CEBRO MDF plant to Thailand


FOCUS ON OSB


13 — North America: Richard and Dick Baldwin assess the OSB industry in the US and Canada, outlining how OSB demand and prices fell in 2023 as higher mortgage rates slowed down housing construction and reduced need for building materials 22 — Rest of the World: Stephen Powney looks at the OSB sector outside of North America


FOCUS ON RESINS 28 — WBPI consultant Mike Botting spoke to NTL Chemical Consulting about the latest trends in resin manufacture 30 — Chimar Hellas looks at research into alternative eco-friendly resins for the wood-based panels sector 32 — BASF outlines its stepwise approach to sustainability


XYLEXPO PREVIEW 34 — The biennial technology show in Milan gets underway


PANEL PERSPECTIVES 36 — Malaysian plywood producer Hok Lai is targeting the UK 38 — The EPLF annual press meeting shows the laminate flooring sector hit an all- time low in 2023


TECHNICALLY SPEAKING 40 — The BioComposites Centre’s Rob Elias looks at transforming Wood into TMP fibres for MDF


ARCHIVE 41 — Panel industry stories from past decades


38 In this issue:


Focus on OSB Focus on resins Xylexpo preview


April/May 2024 36 34


13


OSB


PB


DRYING TECHNOLOGY IMAL BELT DRYER


www.imalpal.com


Wood Based Panels International magazine


www.wbpionline.com


Newsletter


WBPI | April/May 2024 | www.wbpionline.com


The WBPI Group


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