| 25
Piveteaubois was promoting a number of new developments. These included Argento, a new glue laminated range of Douglas fir cladding profiles, supplied as 19mm x 145mm x 4m long. It is in a pre-weathered grey look and comes as a vertical (Vigo) and horizontal (Vezzo) install. It’s distributed in the UK by the National Timber Group. The company also focused on latest advances in its fast-evolving engineered wood operation. This included its low carbon Pivolta pressure-treated, Use Class 3 Douglas fir glulam car park solar panel canopy kits. “A new regulation in France requires owners of all external car parks over 1,500m2 to install solar canopies to cover at least half their area,” explained Piveteaubois UK and Ireland director Elisabeth Piveteau. “The Pivolta kits are available in different configurations to suit projects of all sizes. They’re rather like giant pergolas. We supply them in grey or brown – but don’t provide the solar panels.”
) was focused on its new glulam production. Its spruce Cor-Lam tongued and grooved range is supplied in lengths from 2m to 16m, up to 1m wide and 60-280mm thick and targeted at wall, ceiling and roof construction. “We are now strongly promoting Cor-Lam to export markets,” said sales representative Jannis Buick. “The German building sector is currently flat, and in any case, we’ve outgrown it. We see particularly strong prospects in France but are yet to be discovered in the UK.”
Also in the Carrefour construction products hall, Sylneo, a wood composite producer part- owned by Piveteaubois (www.piveteaubois. com/en), was showing a new product featuring a co-extruded polymer skin around its wood flour/polypropylene core. This, it said, gives advanced anti-stain properties and allows for greater colour variation. The company also flagged its aim to move from its current 75% recycled material product content to 100% by 2030. Cordes (
www.cordes-holz.de), one of Germany’s biggest players in planed timber, structural solid wood panels, cladding and decking (its Bremerhaven factory covers 450,000m2
Above: Tropical supplier Rougier’s high profile stand
Steico (
www.steico.fr), which has wood fibre insulation production in France and Poland, also sees RE2020 creating opportunities, notably through its focus on improving housing energy efficiency. The company highlighted major new spending on a low-density fibreboard line, with loft conversion and insulation a key target market. This follows a doubling of Steicoflex insulation production and, through 2021- 2023, investment in its insulation products plant in Gromadka in Poland, forecasted to boost production by €75m. Okoumé and poplar plywood producer Joubert (
www.joubert-group.com) expected RE2020 to boost demand for certified timber products in particular, highlighting that its okoumé range was covered by FSC certification and poplar by PEFC. The latter, moreover, is plantation grown and largely sourced within a 200km radius of its French plant.
The company, which exports 60% of its annual 80,000m3
output, acknowledged
“It will be available in panels up to 3m by 6m and is designed for structural walls and floors in buildings up to three-storeys,” she said. “We believe it’s unique, with an added attraction being the quality of finish, allowing the surface to be left exposed.” Export manager Florence Perrucaud said the UK continues to be significant for Ducerf, underlining which it is offering a new custom sized oak service for the market. “We’re also appointing a new sales representative for the market, who will be in post by September,” she said. “Our aim is to further increase market share, especially in more finished products.”
Fellow French oak sawmill and sizeable supplier to the UK, Monniot (
www.monniot. fr) reported buoyant demand for boules and strong higher grade business in France and the rest of Europe.
Hardwood sawmiller and a leading French oak supplier to the UK, Ducerf (www.ducerf. com) continues its progress along the value- added route (see p29). Making its debut at the CIB was its range of finger-jointed strips for internal screening and slatted walls in French oak and steamed beech. These are supplied in lengths up to 6m and a range of finishes. A hot off the press launch, was Batichêne, a solid oak CLT developed with the Bois Croisés de Bourgogne business collective. Communications head Carole Debize said it had already aroused considerable interest from architects, under ever growing pressure to decarbonise their projects.
“The challenge is competition for these qualities from the barrel industry,” he said. Longer term, he added, the company remains upbeat, expecting France’s RE2020 environmental regulation in particular to benefit trade. Among its stipulations is that 50% of construction materials in new public building must be bio-based. Some exhibitors said there were already signs this was boosting demand for timber and wood products, and particularly mass or engineered wood.
Underlining its confidence in the longer term, Monniot has constructed a new unit dedicated to cross-cutting and grading, which it expects to boost productivity by 10-15%.
that 2024 had “started slowly, but is now improving”. The UK remained stable. “We saw no change due to Brexit, and we’ve retained our customer base,” said marketing spokesperson Pierre Marchais. The EU embargo on trade with Russia saw a range of Siberian larch substitutes being promoted at the CIB. These included Canadian, German, and Nordic larch, but also Douglas fir (of which France is Europe’s biggest provider) and thermo-treated hardwoods, including oak, ash, and beech. Cladding producer, Sivalbp (
www.sivalbp. com) is now sourcing its larch from a range of sources, including France, Poland and Austria.
“It does have a different aesthetic, including more knots, but customers are getting used to it,” said UK sales representative Yves Baudin.
The company launched a new range, Affinéa at the CIB, in a choice of European larch or Douglas fir, two profiles and grey or wood tone.
Mr Baudin said business in the UK, where Sivalbp sells via Vincent Timber, has been steady.
“It remains our second biggest export market,” he said.
Belgian-based international importer and trader Vandecasteele Houtimport (www.
vandecasteele.be) put lesser-known timber species (LKTS) in the spotlight at the show. “It’s important to use these on environmental grounds, to reduce supply stress on traditional species and use the range of what the forest offers,” said export manager Geneviève Standaert. “It reduces availability issues too and provides more choice.”
Among the species highlighted was louro vermelho. ►
www.ttjonline.com | July/August 2024 | TTJ
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
