A 600m3/day MDF plant with an engineered capacity to produce up to 1,200m3/day is to be located on the Mpumalanga Highveld near Warburton.
The region is one of South Africa’s prime pine production areas, earmarked as a feedstock base for the plant.
FX Veneer’s project advisor Roddy Payne said: "The last investments made in SA in terms of increased MDF production capacity was in 1984/88, the two local MDF producers Sonae Novaboard and PG Bison since then acquiring no further capacity despite the global expansion of MDF grades and applications due to the lack of local technology."
In contrast with other existing board production plants in South Africa where a number of plant component manufacturers combine to provide for board production capacity, the FX Veneers Warburton plant will be 100% Dieffenbacher.
In an attempt to gain further mileage from installations of this type, Dieffenbacher has exponentially widened its range to now cater for all requirements from infeed to outfeed, during the board production process.
