Focus on Particleboard Part 2 | 23


news was announced in December 2025. SPF’s order includes glue preparation and dosing, gluing, forming station and forming line, a CPS+ continuous press system and a raw board handling system. The order also includes the latest MAIER flaking and milling equipment: three new MAIER Knife Ring Flakers type MRZ 1500 PLUS with FlowOptimizer, the fully automatic MAIER Knife Ring Maintenance Center and two MAIER Impact Mills.


The new MAIER Knife Ring Flaker type


MRZ 1500 PLUS has a compact footprint and high performance, thanks to 3D material distribution via the FlowOptimizer and an extra-wide knife ring. The automated Heavy Particle Separator is designed to have easy and precise adjustment of separation efficiency, enabling improved material cleaning.


The new complete plant order continues SPF’s relationship with Dieffenbacher. In 2017, SPF replaced the old sifters in its first MDF line with a Z-Sifter from Dieffenbacher. The new complete CEBRO particleboard and Super PB plant will have a total annual production capacity of 478,500m³. Assembly in Indralaya has begun, with commissioning planned for the end of 2026. In Africa, there is an update on the Ghamoud PB project in Algeria (115,000m3 capacity). We have received notification that the first board was due to be produced in December 2025 so this will be added to the main listings next year.


Dieffenbacher was the main plant supplier. It had impressed Ghamoud with its concepts precisely tailored to the needs of African wood-based panel manufacturers. Ghamoud, headquartered in El Eulma-


Sétif, ordered the line in 2019, with a 13m-long CPS+. As with the BIGSTAR/Panneaux d’Algérie’s MDF plant, the project was executed together with Dieffenbacher’s Chinese subsidiary Shanghai Wood-based Panel Machinery (SWPM).


The project had initially been held up by the pandemic but has now reached fruition. In South America there are a couple of PB projects in various stages. The most well-known is the one by Berneck in Santa Catarina, where extensive improvement has been taking place – a central feature being a new drum dryer and 84MW energy system from Dieffenbacher. These improvements will double the production capacity from 1,200m3


to approximately 2,700m3 a day.


Berneck has confirmed to WBPI that that the project should be finished by July 2026. Another South American project is in


Ecuador at Aglomerados Cotapaxi. This project has taken a while to get off the


ground and the last update we received was that machinery contracts were being made. We expect it to be realised but will remain in our list of future capacity awaiting further updates. In Australia, the Borg plant of Australian


Panels at Mount Gambia has been seeing the largest PB line in the country being built, with an annual production capacity of 650,000m3


. The plant was due to be


complete by the summer of 2025, so we expect to add this project to our main listings next year.


The line features a Siempelkamp forming and press line measuring 8ft x 55.5m and is believed to be the largest PB plant of its kind in Australia.


In 2016, the Australian company ordered a particleboard line with an almost identical scope for its site in New South Wales. The Australian Panels brand name has now changed to “Porta”, bringing the company’s complete range of decorative and structural products under one brand.


HOW THE LIST WAS COMPILED


The WBPI listings published in 2024 were reviewed and modifications made using other published sources and data received directly from the mills. Published information was reviewed for news of mill capacity changes. The mills’ own reported capacities are used wherever possible but where this information is not available, published sources are used, usually on the basis of 330 operating days per year.


Conversion of ft2 to m3 /year is made with 1,000 ft2 equal to 1.77m3 .


With regard to press types, the following abbreviations have been used in the listings: MO=multi-opening/multi daylight SO=single opening/single daylight C=continuous


Mende=Bison-Mende (Calender) na=not available


The following press makes have been identified and are shown in the listing as:-


Bison (pre and post-Metso acquisition) BVH Becker & van Hüllen C Compak Dieff Dieffenbacher Fjellman Küsters (pre and post-Metso acquisition) Mende Bison Mende Metso


Motala NKK Pagnoni Raute


Siemp Siempelkamp WIW Washington Iron Works na


We have removed the historical Guangxi


Fenglin project in New Zealand from the list of future capacity, as the plans changed multiple times and our understanding is that Fenglin was no longer seeking to establish a 400,000m3


PB plant in the country. Elsewhere, a further project we understand may be happening is in Turkmenistan, with Kronospan possibly looking to invest in PB production. No concrete details are available yet, but we have added this to our list of future capacity and await more details in due course. So, in summary, China, India and SE Asia are leading the field with PB investment levels, with reasonable activity levels reported in South America. Africa is an interesting market, and we expect investment levels to increase there in the coming years. But many panel producers, like those in


Europe and North America, will be hoping global economies improve in the next 12 months and for more financial stability.●


Information not available


We remain pleased to accept any and all contributions to this survey. Please send them to Stephen Powney, the group editor of WBPI, at stephen.powney@wbpionline.com


We are grateful to the CPA for the use of a small part of its figures. If you wish to become a member of this organisation and have access to its comprehensive data, go to www.CompositePanel.org. We are similarly grateful to the EPF and the same applies. Go to www.europanels.eu


www.wbpionline.com | December 2025/January 2026 | WBPI


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