Focus on MDF: Part 2 | 27


WORLD Existing plants, December 2023 000m3 Country Iran


Company


Arian Chemie Arian Chemie 2 Arian Maryam Arian Sina


Arian Takhteh 1 Arian Takhteh 2


Arta Industrial Group Caspian Fomanat


Khazar Choub Kimia Choub Lohe Sabz


Mansour Industrial Group Melamine Sazeh Noghteh Pakchoub


Parko (Aria Pooya) Pars Neopan Rahasan


Vina Fiber Pakistan Al-Noor Sugar Mills Ltd


Crystal Board Mills (Pvt) Ltd Pershawar Particleboard ZRK Industries (Pvt) Ltd


Sri Lanka Merbok Total Sri Lanka


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Group


Location


Sari, Mazandaran Sari, Mazandaran Rasht, Gilan


Sari, Mazandaran Rasht, Gilan


Ardebil, Aedebil Foman, Gilan


Noor, Mazandaran Gorgan, Golestan Shushtar, Khuzestan Lowsham, Gilan Azarshahr, Tabriz Semnan, Semnan


Hussainabad, Khuzestan Rasht, Gilan


Tonekabon, Mazandaran Behshahr, Mazandaran Rasht, Gilan Total Iran


Moro, Nawabshah Haripur Hazara


Mardan Total Pakistan


m3


/year


210,000 250,000 250,000 140,000 250,000 250,000 150,000 105,000 120,000 60,000 115,000 130,000 250,000 50,000


100,000 120,000 250,000 90,000 100,000 130,000


3,220,000 52,000 30,000 50,000 210,000 342,000 180,000 180,000


per year. The start-up which was in mid-2023 will boost Guararapes’ total MDF capacity by 90% and has been added to the main listing. Guararapes says it believes this will give the company the biggest combined MDF facility in South America. Moving on, Indústria de Compensados Sudati Ltda of Palmas wants to further enlarge its MDF capacity. Capacity planned is suggested at 360,000m3


with anticipated


start up in 2026. The future investment projects envisaged


by Asperbras (Greenplac), and Sudati will in due course again accelerate the expansion of Brazilian MDF/HDF capacity, which has been proceeding at a somewhat subdued pace in the past two to three years. Along with increasing their raw board capacity, several Brazilian MDF/HDF manufacturers are also set to invest in coating operations. Wemhöner had previously delivered a short cycle press to Berneck’s facility in Curitibanos in April 2020 under the terms of an older contract. Assembly work has now restarted after being delayed by the pandemic. Wemhöner has received more orders from the Brazilian MDF/HDF industry via Inserco Industrie Service GmbH. Besides Guararapes and Sudati, Floraplac Industrial MDF Ltda, based in Paragominas, Pará,


has also ordered a short-cycle press. With all these great projects in mind it is important to note that Brazil is the world’s fifth largest country by area with a currently installed MDF capacity of 8,092,000m3


. Its


forest resources sector now comes under the common umbrella of IBA, the Association for the Brazilian Tree Industry. We would particularly like to thank IBA for its help in updating this part of our report. In Paraguay, the modest project to build Paraguay’s first MDF plant, a 55,000m3


Coronel Oviedo (department of Caaguazú), was given the green light by the Industry and Commerce Ministry there. It was planned by Agroindustria del Paraguay SA as its first venture in panel manufacturing and it took advantage of fiscal incentive legislation for national and foreign investors to assist its investment of US$6.7m in imported machinery. The mill, which we understand is running well, is in the main listing. Paraguay’s domestic demand for MDF is also partially satisfied by MDF imports from Brazil and from China.


In Chile, installed capacity remains at 1,155,000m3


and there is no new capacity


expansion on MDF seen at present. Arauco as the largest manufacturer has continued to expand its panel products global reach along with Masisa and Polincay, being the other


MDF producers in this country. Production of MDF also continues in individual mills and facilities in Columbia, Ecuador, Uruguay and Venezuela and we have no new or specific information to report at this time. Consumption of MDF in South America


unit in


overall (post Covid-19) is projected to increase continually out to 2025/26 and most of this will be in Brazil, which will be consuming more than 70% of all MDF in South America by then. Consumption will also expand over time in other countries such as Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Columbia, Ecuador, Peru, Uruguay, Venezuela, and other non-producing South American countries, providing strong export demand regionally within the continent, as well as overseas internationally, particularly to the US. As at the end of 2023, we now estimate


total South American MDF production capacity stands at 10,626,000m3


.


REST OF THE WORLD Australia remains one of the strongest performing advanced economies in the world and has been over the past decade. GDP growth slowed in 2023 to 1.5% but is anticipated to rise to 2.5% in 2025. Economic production shifted from a dominant mining and resource sector to a greater emphasis on


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