Panel Perspectives: Italy panels market | 37
Above left: The Kastamonu plant at Pomposa has been undergoing expansion plans Above right: Saib plant in Italy
Alessandro Saviola, chairman of Saviola Group, one of Italy’s leading panels producers, recently gave an interview with Italian media. The report said Italy and its panels’ sector demonstrated generally better results than the German sector and European market during the Covid-era crisis. Mr Saviola mentioned his company had
activated important foreign channels on new non-European markets. While producers have tried not to pass on extra costs to the final consumer in 2022-23, the growth of final product prices is still ongoing. Particleboard prices in Italy have grown to around €300/m3 around €500/m3
, while MDF has been at , higher than a year ago.
While the Italian furniture sector is
able to absorb these prices, the level of competition from North American and Asian furniture producers is growing and there is a possibility that lower costs at their factories will allow them to be more competitive with their Italian rivals. Another issue concerns availability of
wood raw material. There is some chatter about shortages of raw materials putting pressure on the industry in 2024. Paolo Fantoni, president of Assopannelli (the Italian Association of Panel and Semi- finished Wood Products Manufacturers), and CEO of Fantoni SPA, made some comments on this latter point in a recent interview in the Italian Nordest Economia business paper. He was quoted as saying that one of the solutions to deal with the shortage of raw materials was greater use of the Italian forest resources. One example quoted was the Friuli
Venezia Giulia region, one of Italy’s five autonomous regions with special statute, with reserves equal to 1 million m3 per year.
of wood In general, Italy has approximately 11.1 Above: Italian melamine-faced products
million hectares of forest, which cover 36% of the national territory, some 3.5 million hectares of which are located in protected areas.
At the same time, the constant growth in demand for wood for burning (for energy purposes) represents competition for the fibre.
Prior to 2021-2022, as much as 98% of the panels produced in Italy were made from recycled wood, making Italy the European leader in this field. However, supplies of recycled wood for the needs of the industry have reportedly been under pressure, forcing producers to keep an eye on the situation and be alert to possible alternative sources of raw materials. In terms of expansions and investments within the country’s panel sector, the global majors have significantly strengthened
their positions in recent years. An example of this is Kastamonu – the fourth largest chipboard producer in Italy, which continues an expansion of its flagship Italian factory in Pomposa in the Emilia- Romagna region. The company purchased the site, formerly belonging to Gruppo Trombini, in 2017, re-opening the facility the following year. At present the factory is estimated to have a production capacity of 450,000m3
.
According to general director of the factory Esat Osoguz, plans include increasing the capacity to 600,000m3
. The plant is on continuous production
cycle 24/7. In 2023, the company invested more than €30m in the expansion of the plant, most of which was allocated in the building of a new large-scale warehouse. In the meantime, another global giant – Kronospan – in recent years has made serious efforts to expand its presence in Italy. That was primarily in the form of building production facilities, which, similar to other countries in Europe, was also faced with the resistance of local population and authorities. For Kronospan Italy, with headquarters in San Vito, the company has been trying for some time to build a new factory in the Ponterosso industrial area to produce chipboard panels. However, due to various legal disputes, the timing of the project has been seriously delayed. According to some Italian media reports,
the company has finally been able to get the needed permissions for the building of the plant, which could see some activity in 2024. The cost of the project is estimated at more than €280m, creating hundreds of new jobs. The new plant is projected to be one of the largest Kronospan facilities in western Europe. ●
www.wbpionline.com | December 2023/January 2024 | WBPI
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