16 | Sector Market Update: MDF
SUMMARY
■ Demand has been flat and prices low
■Resin and fibre prices have risen ■ Demand from independent merchant customers improved throughout May
■The market for MDF mouldings for housing is beginning to increase
REVIVAL IN MARKET SOME SIGNS OF
The MDF market in the UK seems to have been generally rather lack-lustre since 2021, apart from occasional blips, and trading conditions continue to be slow, but many expect prices to increase later this year. Mike Botting reports
According to Timber Development UK’s (TDUK) most recent statistics there was a marked increase in both imports and exports of MDF around September/October 2021, but overall a decline in volumes throughout the four-year period to this year.
Looking at the cumulative figures, we find that in percentage terms, MDF imports fell 6.5% January to December year-on-year between 2023 and 2024. Exports in the same period fell 20.7%.
The cumulative volume of imports was 755,000m3 in 2024.
in 2023, falling to 706,000m3
Doing the same exercise for exports, we find that the cumulative volumes were reported as 31,000m3 25,000m3
in 2023, falling to in 2024. One MDF manufacturer supplying the UK
market said that business, as represented by its order books, had been flat all year so far. However, the factory remains on two-week lead times with an order book looking about two weeks ahead.
“Continental manufacturers are seeing some strengthening in demand and this will probably lead to some firming of price in due course,” he said. “Prices have remained
Above: There is a growing market for MDF wall panels PHOTO: W HOWARD TTJ | July/August 2025 |
www.ttjonline.com
unchanged since November last year. “For the past 18 months the market has been ‘OK’, but demand has been flat and pricing low, but I’m not saying that things are ‘bad’. If the market was bad, prices would be falling and mills would be having temporary closures, but nobody is in that scenario. Demand is strong enough to meet current capacity and our mill is operating at full capacity. The demand is steady in volume terms but the price is flat.” The spokesman pointed out that there is no major new capacity in the pipeline on the continent and there is not much MDF volume coming in from South America or elsewhere. “But we do need to see some price increases because our costs have not been flat. Mainly resin, but also fibre prices have risen. Every manufacturer has the same problem, therefore everybody is looking for price increases, but so far they have not been achievable.” On a positive note, the spokesman did say that demand from independent merchant customers improved significantly throughout May and that the reduction in interest rates was, he felt, likely to help increase demand. The current government’s emphasis on building more houses must be good news for the timber industry in general, including the MDF industry, but the spokesman didn’t expect this to filter through significantly to his order books until 2026, although he was optimistic about some improvement from Q3 2025. A spokesman for another MDF manufacturer pointed out that the UK had a new government in July 2024, but that
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