42 | Country Focus: France
“This could cause issues particularly for laminated and finger-jointed products and other composite products, which might comprise hundreds of lamellas,” she said. “Providing co-ordinates for all these, if that’s what’s demanded, would be a very time consuming process.”
Above: Monniot’s new production line
◄ Another legislative development being monitored closely is the new EU Deforestation Regulation (EUDR). This aims to ensure no timber or wood products (plus a range of other ‘forest and eco-system risk commodities’) that are implicated in deforestation or forest degradation are placed on the EU market. It covers timber grown within the EU as well as imported and applies to EU exports too. And one element of the regulation creating particular concern in the sector is its stipulation that ‘first placers’ have to provide geolocation co-ordinates for the plot of land where timber originated. Under the EUDR, supplier countries will also be benchmarked and rated as high, standard or low in terms of risk of commodity exploitation causing deforestation, with first placers applying risk mitigation accordingly.
The general view of hardwood mills is that it’s too early to say what the implications are for administrative and due diligence procedures. But Eurochêne remains confident of its sustainability credentials in the face of the new rules. “We are PEFC certified, and as part of certification, have strengthened our traceability tools,” said Ms Carrey. “We also emphasise that we only buy logs in France from sustainably managed forests.” Ms Perrucaud stressed Ducerf’s chain of custody processes too and also underlined that France would be rated low risk in terms of deforestation and felt this would minimise the impact of the EUDR. However, if implemented as they stand, compliance with its rules on geolocation information could be complex.
The EUDR aside, the consensus of French mills is that 2023 will be stable, but with sales below 2021-2022 levels and cost of living issues and the geopolitical situation resulting in something of a slowdown towards the year end However, Ducerf is clearly optimistic about longer term prospects for the market and its sawmilling operations and Bois Profilé manufactured products business. Reflecting its confidence, following its €4.7m capital spend in 2022, it has launched a five-year €20m investment programme. This will include installation of a new moulder, refurbishment of a log elevator and a €1.3m spend on a new press at Bois Profilé. The latter will give the company greater flexibility and will handle its “future production of CLT”.
At its Bourgogne Bois Industrie operation it is also installing a production line for compressed logs for the wood energy market. The largest part of the overall investment will see construction of a new biomass plant at Vendenesse-lès-Charolles. This will generate 200% of the site’s energy needs, with half sold to the grid. Also in prospect is a 200kW solar power plant on the roof of a new warehouse, and an optimising edging and trimming line to supply material for finger- jointed products.
Meanwhile Eurochêne is working on “a project to generate electricity and increase drying capacity” and Monniot has invested in a new production line and building to optimise board sorting, trimming and stacking.
“This is enabling us to improve presentation and grading of boards, and increase efficiency of the process,” said Mr Manière. “The building is also covered with photovoltaic solar panels, which will produce part of our electricity needs, [the cost of] energy being one of the main challenges we are facing.”
Above: Oak boules at Tarteret TTJ | July/August 2023 |
www.ttjonline.com
Mills are also focused on new product development. Last year, thanks to purchasing of “exceptional logs”, Eurochêne created a Prestige product, boasting “XXL diameter and exceptional quality”. Tarteret has started production of wide and long square-edged material for 27mm flooring, with boards up to 380mm wide and 4m long, while Ducerf has introduced Bard 107 Texture t&g interior cladding. The latter has a tactile ‘structured’ surface effect and is available in ash and poplar as well as oak, with lengths from 800mm to 2400mm, plus bespoke finger-jointed boards. ■
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100 |
Page 101 |
Page 102 |
Page 103 |
Page 104 |
Page 105 |
Page 106 |
Page 107 |
Page 108 |
Page 109
