28 | Focus on MDF Part 1: Europe & North America


producing 310,000m3 year, 124,000m3


of MDF per of primed Armorite and


90 million ft of interior mouldings. The company anticipates that both new plants will begin operations in 2026 and will employ approximately 120 people once completed.


The MEDITE MDF mill in Medford, Oregon has operated well in 2024 under the ownership of Roseburg. The Medford, Oregon plant is a well-run facility, and the acquisition represented a key strategic move for Roseburg in its evolving composite panel business, ahead of the Pembroke, Canada purchase and then the Potlach Deltic Corp, 265,000m3


MDF mill at El Dorado, Arkansas. Whilst not MDF as such, it is appropriate


to report that the US door manufacturer Steves & Sons Inc placed an order for two Siempelkamp forming and press lines for the production of door skins. The Texan customer also placed an order with Siempelkamp subsidiary Büttner for two fibre dryers and an energy plant. Steves & Sons, a Texas family-owned company, is entering the door skins manufacturing business with this project. The two press lines each consist of a fibre classifier, mat forming, forming line and the multi-daylight press yielding millions of door skins per year. For the press line design, the focus was specifically on the wide product variety, combined with the minimisation of trim waste. Commissioning and start-up were scheduled for 2024, and we understand the plant is now operational. The investment project by Swiss Krono for the HDF / MDF plant at its facility in South Carolina which relies heavily on roundwood, has continued to progress successfully and is running well. The plant at the Barnwell site has been expanded extensively to strengthen the HDF and laminate divisions throughout the Group.


The plant has a production capacity of around 280,000m3


of HDF, which is intended


primarily for laminate flooring production in the company’s own plant. Meanwhile, in Canada the Great Plains wheat straw-based MDF project moves forward slowly in Alberta. Back in 2021, Great Plains MDF announced it has selected a site for its greenfield wheat straw-based MDF plant and has added two industry veterans in Lanny Hammock as vice- president, sales and marketing and Wade Gregory as vice-president operations to its team and has now also formed an alliance with a major construction firm. The plant, with a design capacity of 849,000m3


, is planned to be built in Kneehill


County in Alberta, Canada. As a latest update (April-May 2025) the company said that the financing process has taken much longer than anticipated. Once financing is secured, the engineering, equipment purchasing, and


WBPI | June/July 2025 | www.wbpionline.com


construction phases will begin, but we are still three years away from start up, at best. The Great Plains development plan will see Great Plains pursuing permits with all the appropriate regulators (Government of Alberta, local municipality). Great Plains Innovations is the parent company of Great Plains MDF. It intends to build a series of similar facilities across the Canadian prairies and elsewhere over the next 10 years.


MEXICO In Mexico, we see the three projects that we highlighted previously progressing well, with all of them being fully operational. Total nominal production capacity of the MDF plants in Mexico has been adjusted to 792,000m3


/year, such a significant volume


when compared to the small capacity of less than 80,000m3


only a few years ago. Celulosa Arauco y Constitución plans


to double the MDF/HDF capacities of Arauco Industria de México by installing a production line at the Mexican site in Zitácuaro (Michoacán). The company plans to invest around US$200m in the project. With production expected to commence during 2025-26, depending on the progress of the approval procedures still required, this will ultimately add 300,000m3


to the facility.


The plant will employ 220 people during its operation and its supply seeks to promote a circular economy model, empowering small local forest producers and safeguarding the


ecosystem values of their surroundings. To date, Arauco México has produced raw


and coated particleboard at the Zitácuaro site. Following the takeover, the production capacity of the two sites was indicated at 339,000m3


particleboard and 220,000m3


MDF/HDF. Mexican wood panel producers are still driving several market development initiatives, which are gaining momentum and are at the forefront of a campaign to promote wider use, particularly of MDF, by the national furniture industry. The panel makers are continually educating Mexico’s furniture designers and manufacturers in the potential and versatility of working with MDF which, with its workability, is a natural substitute for traditional solid wood. So, reflecting over recent years, total North American installed MDF capacity for 2022 was shown as at 5,818,000m3


and for


2023 has now been readjusted down for Canada, Mexico, and the US (with the closure of CalPlant 1) to 5,537,000m3


and this


remains the same figure for 2024. The planned Mexican capacity, along with the futuristic and large Canadian wheat straw-based MDF project and the new US investment announced by Roseburg, our table showing forecast future capacity gives a figure of 6,996,000m3


for the North American area for 2025 and beyond.


HOW THE LISTING WAS COMPILED


The WBPI listings published in 2024 were reviewed, and modifications made, using other published sources and data received directly from the mills and industry experts. Published information was reviewed for news of capacity changes. These sources include relevant trade magazines, association reports, press releases and equipment suppliers’ reference lists.


Self-completion enquiry forms were distributed to the mills, requesting current and future capacity data. The mills own reported design capacities are used wherever possible because this is the basis upon which they can make their estimates of future capacity and production changes. Where this information is not available, published sources are used, usually on a basis of 330 operating days per year. Conversion of ft2


to m3 /year is made with 1,000ft2 equal to 1.77m3 .


In September 2011, Geoff Rhodes established GRA as a specialist forest products and international trade consultancy, providing independent in-depth assessment of markets and market potential for wood-based panel products. Geoff is well known for his pioneering work over many years driving the introduction and huge expansion in the use of MDF in the UK and international markets. He is a former president of the Timber Trade Federation (TTF), the European Association of MDF Manufacturers (EMB) and the Fibre Building Board Federation (FIDOR) and a former board member of the European Panel Federation (EPF). He is also a Fellow of the Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining and since 2016, has been president of The Institute of Carpenters. In 2017 he was the recipient of the TTJ’s Lifetime Achievement Award for services to the timber industry. geoffrhodes.associates@gmail.com


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