Comment | 3
WBPI – the voice of the global panel industry T
he well-trodden halls of the Hannover Messe have been a biennial feature for WBPI at the time of the LIGNA exhibition. I have attended the exhibition since the early 2000s, and it is amazing how comprehensively the wood industry sectors are covered.
Once again WBPI will be in Hall 26 to talk to
technology suppliers and find out all the latest innovations and see where market sentiment lies. This exhibition on May 26-30, 2025, will be historic for LIGNA, marking the 50th anniversary, having started back in 1975. A strong level of registrations for the trade
show is particularly encouraging: at the beginning of March, 1,337 exhibitors had registered for the anniversary edition, which means that the number of exhibitors at this year’s LIGNA has surpassed the previous event (1,288 exhibitors in 2023). We have included preview submissions from a large proportion of wood-based panels industry technology suppliers, ranging from main plant suppliers, chemicals and resins, drying, gluing, handling, surfacing and sanding. LIGNA hopefully will provide a boost to the
sector against a background of ongoing economic challenges and uncertainty which have led to delays in crucial investment decisions.
It will certainly be the meeting place for ideas and information. The next issue will feature an extensive review of the news from the show. Also in this issue is our annual OSB focus, with surveys on both North America and the Rest of the
❯ FOCUS ON MDF: PART 1 An update on MDF developments in Europe and North America
❯ SURFACING A look at the world of surfacing
❯ LIGNA 2025 REVIEW An extensive look at all the news and updates from LIGNA 2025 in Hannover in May
❯ PLUS REGULARS Including all the news relevant to our industry, which will be covered in depth and will also appear, as it happens, on our website:
www.wbpionline.com
World regions. The former is seeing a raft of new mill investments, while the latter, while still growing, is seeing less dynamic investment, although the Chinese OSB/PB hybrid product has certainly been a focus for much investment activity. At the end of 2024, we estimate OSB production capacity for these regions at 17,863,000m3
, with
the European portion (including Russia, Ukraine and Belarus) at approximately 11,403,000m3
(up just over 1 million m3 compared to 2023). Note these
figures are installed capacity, not production and have a different methodology to the European Panel Federation’s production statistics, with WBPI’s European stats including a wider range of additional countries – such as Russia – than just the EU27. Our North America Focus on OSB – preceding this report – has already outlined the situation with North America, showing an installed 2024 capacity at 23,896,000m3
. estimate at approximately 41,759,000m3
So total combined world OSB installed capacity we .
New mill projects worthy of note include ones in Kazakhstan and Chile.
Elsewhere in this issue, we have our South America focus, with reports on Berneck and Lavrasul, while we also preview the Interzum exhibition in Cologne, that other major show, which highlights the surfaces and furniture components sector.
Stephen Powney
www.wbpionline.com
GROUP EDITOR
www.wbpionline.com | April/May 2025 | WBPI
Next Issue
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 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69
