12 | Focus on Particleboard Part 2


GLOBAL PB CAPACITY GROWS


Panels markets have cooled greatly post-Covid, but while there may be uncertainty


in key economies around the world, particleboard production capacity is still nudging up with a number of ongoing projects being delivered. Stephen Powney reports


particleboard sector focuses on the Rest of the World – namely Asia, Africa, the Middle East, South America and Oceania and follows our Part 1 survey which centred on Europe and North America. Particleboard (PB) investment projects are taking place in all these regions, with scheduled completion dates in 2023, 2024 & 2025.


Our main listing tables feature installed capacity as at the end of 2022, so projects which went online during 2023 will be added to the main listings in next year’s survey and are currently featured in the table of future capacity. This year’s figures show that particleboard


estimated installed capacity outside Europe and North America for the year ended December 31, 2022 increased, after adjustments from last year, to 48,734,000m3


Above: Kanatuch Piyasombatkul (Managing Director Metro Particle) and the Metro Team with the first Board at Surit Thani


P


anel board markets internationally have certainly not been stellar of late, due


to a myriad of reasons which can best be summed up as a fall in demand driven by high inflation and interest rates, coupled with geopolitical uncertainty. Dealing with such diverse world regions for this report, it’s inevitable that there are


exceptions to these conditions and it would be a mistake to say it’s all bad. Indeed, some regions, such as India, do


have some good market growth prospects and the financial updates for players in the latter country makes for some very interesting reading. This Part 2 survey on the global


South America North East Asia South East Asia Other Asia Australasia Africa


Table 1: Mills outside Europe and North America at end- 2022 No of mills 323 (e) 28 25 46 62


China


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517 565


a modest rise from a year ago, although it needs to be emphasised that this figure contains some adjustments to the main listings based on new information received. This includes the removal of several lines in Columbia which closed some years ago. Our future capacity estimate for 2023 and beyond (for known projects planned) is 51,794,000m3


.


Adding our Part 1: Europe and North America results to Part 2: Rest of the World we arrive together at an estimated global particleboard installed capacity of 118,359,000m3


as at the end of 2022. That’s up from 116,421,000m3 in 2021. A


No of lines December 2022 capacity '000m3 330 (e) 39 28 59 69 16 27


18669 (e) 8691 3655 9749 4087 1618 2265


48734


much bigger rise will be experienced for 2023 due to projects culminating during that year. As ever, we would encourage global PB


mills to contact us with amendments, closure notices, alterations or new investments to lines.


INDIA


It seems apt to start with India, a country that has surpassed China as the most populous country in the world.


WBPI | December 2023/January 2024 | www.wbpionline.com


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