12 | Focus on MDF: Part 2


CAPACITY INCREASES GLOBAL MDF


In the second part of our annual survey of the industry worldwide and for the countries outside Europe and North America, independent industry consultant Geoff Rhodes looks at new developments and summarises the current and future global position for MDF in the ‘rest of the world’. The current dynamics, issues and realities are also considered


D


espite current global dynamics, investment in new MDF capacity


continues in various regions of the world. Following on from the Focus on MDF Part


1 (Europe and North America), we now focus on the existing MDF mills in the rest of the world as at the end of 2023 and on those under construction in 2024 or planned for 2025 and beyond. After several updates to data from across the globe, we now show an increase in installed capacity in these regions in 2023 to 90,300,000m3


, while further investments


identified in this region for 2024/25 and beyond, bring the total up to 95,033,000m3


So, for 2024/25 and beyond, when this figure is added to the European future capacity of 32,449,000m3


and the North


American future capacity figures (including Mexico) of 7,042,000m3


. for the same period,


we see future global MDF capacity growing now to a revised figure of 134,524,000m3


 Average annual growth over the past


five years has been typically strong in this region, except for Japan, where GDP growth declined, but subsequently has been recovering more strongly with GDP forecast to be 1.8% in 2024. In 2023, China reported GDP growth of around 5.2% and has anticipated 4.6% in 2024. Economic projections are still forecasting strong growth into the future from these nations, which ultimately will drive MDF consumption higher. China is still forecast to produce 85% of the furniture in north Asia by 2024/25 and the relatively strong growth in the region will influence not only the aggregate consumption of all wood panels, but also the proportion of use by each sector. However, according to statistics from the Chinese Academy of Industry Development and Planning under the National Forestry and Grassland Administration and the China Forestry Products Industry Association (CFPIA), both the number of enterprises and production capacity of China’s


.


fibreboard industry declined in 2023. Apparently, there were more than 278 fibreboard manufacturing enterprises (down 19% year-on-year) in China at the end of 2023 with a stated production capacity of 46 million m3


46 million m3 to 69 million m3 , the former


being linked to closures of old plants. Our estimates of circa 58 million m3


, down 4% over 2022. As previously


stated though, MDF production capacity in China ranges widely in scale from a variety of sources – but it is clearly substantial. Shandong Province was the largest in


terms of fibreboard production capacity at 6.4 million m3


exceeding Guangxi Zhuang


Autonomous Region in 2023 but down 5% over 2022.


Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region’s production capacity dropped 15% to 5.9 million m3


, dropping from the top production ranking for the first time but still accounting for 13% of the national total. China Customs data shows fibreboard exports totalled 2.205 million tonnes valued at US$1.194 bn, up 10% in volume but down 0.5% in value over 2022. Mexico, Nigeria and Saudi Arabia were the


top three destinations in 2023. Mexico was the largest destination for China’s fibreboard exports in 2023, up 65% to 223,000 tonnes over 2022.


In addition, China’s fibreboard exports


to Vietnam and Canada in 2023 increased 17% and 37% respectively. In contrast, China’s fibreboard exports to Saudi Arabia, US and UAE in 2023 fell 10%, 23% and 32% respectively.


Of the annual production of furniture in China, approximately 32% is exported to a wide range of countries, with the largest volumes still destined for the US, Japan, and Europe, while the domestic market continues to grow year-on-year. The drive by the authorities to move industries to inner cities also led to an exodus of some Taiwanese furniture factories from China, relocating to Vietnam. China’s MDF production capacity has


grown rapidly in the last decade and opinions about the volume of installed capacity vary greatly. Different sources estimate MDF capacity in China being anywhere between


WBPI | August/September 2024 | www.wbpionline.com for


MDF in China are based on known capacity for listed plants, plus estimates and new investment news, with the caveat that there are undoubtedly additional small plants with unknown capacity. Whereas consumption has previously increased so strongly, forecasts are for consumption to increase at an average annual rate of just 1% in the region over the two years out to 2024/25, as China shifts to a focus on more domestic growth in consumption, possibly at the expense of some exports, such as furniture. Also, real commercial activity in the Chinese MDF industry has continued to slow as the government tries to rein in the country’s dramatic economic growth of recent years. Looking ahead, the use of rice straw for MDF production is an evolution that is starting to be noticed around the world. The latest MDF investment decision by


Wanhua Ecoboard Co Ltd based on this raw material source, in partnership with Dieffenbacher, has been installed in Yiyang, Jiangxi Province. The line designed with an annual capacity of 210,000m³ using a CPS+ and in dimensions of 9ft x 32.4m is now in production, is to run completely on straw and has been added to the main listing. Another plant added to the main listing


now is Chinese MDF producer Guangxi Guoxo Dongteng Wood Based Panel Co Ltd in Wuzhou, Guangxi Province, with a capacity of 350,000m3


. With its new MDF plant and


with refiners from Andritz the pressurised refining system is designed to achieve superior fibre properties at low consumption of electrical and thermal energy. The system uses a mixture of eucalyptus and pine wood chip as raw material to produce high quality furniture boards.


Finally, one other new future MDF continued on page 15


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