Comment | 3
WBPI – the voice of the global panel industry A
n interesting news story originating from the US
in October was the Composite Panel Association (CPA) sharing how government vaccine mandates there are causing some consternation in the panels sector. A CPA survey found that more than 75% of responders
reported that a mandate could result in employees deciding to discontinue employment, further exacerbating ongoing labour shortages. The CPA noted this could impact mill production, with several responders noting that the mandate may lead to temporary production disruptions. Fortunately, the option of weekly testing as an
alternative may lessen the labour impact of these mandates, but it does go to show that dealing with the pandemic has certainly not been straightforward or one-dimensional and every decision has a knock- on effect. The impact of restrictions on mental health, other physical health conditions and personal freedoms being just three of those effects. But while the pandemic is still ongoing, things do “feel” more normal and hopefully we are on the right trajectory.
On that point, turning to our Particleboard
Part 1 Survey, covering Europe and North America, there are clear signs of more industry confidence and crucially of investment activity. The Russian wood-based panels market has come
up in conversation frequently recently – with a number of new plant investment projects either already under way or being mooted (see also our Russia panels industry update on pp40-41).
❯ PARTICLEBOARD SURVEY PART 2 The manufacturers outside Europe and North America will be listed and the markets analysed
❯ FOCUS ON NORTH AMERICA We will bring you stories about panel makers on this continent
❯ FOCUS ON GERMAN SPEAKING COUNTRIES We talks to machinery specialists in this key region
www.wbpionline.com | October/November 2021 | WBPI
Our headline figure for installed particleboard capacity in Europe as at December 31, 2020 is 57.34 million m3
39.8 million m3 the Non EU28 it is 17.5 million m3 America increased slightly to 9.7 million m3
. For the EU28 we estimate the figure to be , a decent increase on 2019, and for . Capacity in North .
The improved market confidence also reflects in our annual Focus on Italy report. We interviewed technology suppliers IMAL PAL Group, Pagnoni, Imeas and CMC Texpan – all say that their business activity levels have increased this year. Amazingly, IMAL PAL managed to sell a whole
OSB line project without physically travelling to the Russian customer but relying on virtual conference and other video technology. Imeas has developed a new machine for the engineered wood sector – glue-laminated beams – and is also reporting continual growth in sanding technology in the cross-laminated timber sector. CMC Texpan is promoting its Lynx machine for
removing contaminants and pollutants from the recycled wood waste material intake, while Pagnoni is planning to deliver a large HPL line to central Asia. Lastly, WBPI correspondent Geoff Rhodes covers the subject of alternative raw material use in wood- based panels plants – focusing on waste from the pulp and paper industry (ultimately from wood) used to make the HONEXT branded panel.
Stephen Powney
www.wbpionline.com
GROUP EDITOR
❯ 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
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