Focus on particleboard: Part 1 | 15


Above: Particleboard is the biggest volume wood-based panel product in Europe


European countries will remain roughly the same in 2025.


This demonstrates the lack of major


investment in new production capacity in the region. Investment projects which have seen some planning have not seemingly progressed as fast as expected due to either


the market conditions, funding or planning issues.


Our main survey listings feature mills’ installed capacity as at the end of December 2024.


New plants that came online during 2024 will be added to the main listing tables next


year, while plants in Asia and the rest of the world will be covered in our Part 2 survey in the following issue. Further comment on the North America market can be found in the CPA’s commentary in our Focus on North America overview (see pp24-25).


Our headline statistics for installed particleboard capacity for the EU27 + the UK is 40,393,000m3


North American capacity was down slightly to 7,943,000m3


, giving a total


Europe and North America capacity figure of 67,840,000m3


. EUROPE


Before looking at individual mill projects, it's worth looking at a few company financial results to gauge further market insight. Kronospan UK, for instance, which


operates PB and MDF factories, as well as added-value production in the UK, posted a turnover of £309m in the year ended September 30, 2024, down from £354m in 2023. These are its most recently available UK financial results.


Profit before tax reduced to £489,000 (2023: £47m). It pointed to increasingly competitive markets during the period due


Above: New Uniboard PB plant Continued on page 20 www.wbpionline.com | October/November 2025 | WBPI outside the EU27 + UK being 19,504,000m3


, with European capacity .


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