You only have to listen to equipment suppliers in the global wood-based panels industry to know that enquiry levels for new mill investments are a lot better than they were 18 months ago.
There’s no doubt that uncertainty surrounding the trajectory of the coronavirus pandemic in 2020 impacted confidence levels to invest in new capacity, while delivery timetables for ongoing projects were also affected by travel restrictions.
Most of the equipment suppliers WBPI has spoken to recently, within the Focus on Germany feature in this issue and the Focus on Italy feature in the previous issue, express optimism across the various product lines of the wood-based panels industry, though we are seeing more current activity on the MDF front than particleboard, a trend which existed prior to the pandemic.
Investment activity rebounded in the latter part of 2020 and into 2021, buoyed by the excellence performance of the important furniture and construction sectors.
Where we will be in 12 months’ time is never an easy prediction at the best of times but current indicators for the panel sector look promising.
This Part 2 survey on the global particleboard sector focuses on the Rest of the World – namely Asia, Africa, the Middle East, South America and Oceania and follows our Part 1 survey which centred on Europe and North America.
Our main listing tables feature installed capacity as at the end of 2020, so projects which went online during 2021 will be added to the main listings in next year’s survey.
This year’s figures show that particleboard estimated installed capacity outside Europe and North America for the year ended December 31, 2020 increased to 47.267 million m3 in 2020. It’s important to note that the majority of this increase is due to the addition of statistics from Chinese plant supplier Yalian being added into the survey figures this year. This covers Yalian installations going back to 2009, so the likefor- like increase is more modest (in the realm of several hundred thousand cubic metres) – the December 2019 installed capacity figure was 42.348 million m3.
Our future capacity estimate for 2021 and beyond (for known projects planned) is 49.886 million m3.
A quick reminder of Part 1: Europe and North America’s results – estimated installed capacity in the whole of Europe at December 31, 2020 is 57.34 million m3, with North American estimated installed capacity to be 9.7 million m3.
Bringing both Part 1 and Part 2 survey results together we arrive at an estimated global particleboard installed capacity of 114,316 million m3 (rounded up) as at 2020.
ASIA
Turning specifically to Asia, as mentioned earlier we’ve added numerous Yalian lines to the survey statistics now for China, with thanks to the company for supplying us this additional information.
The company has clearly come a long way since former WBPI editor Mike Botting spoke with it back in 2010 at the Beijing WMF show. Originally supplying Mende-type calendar presses, it has supplied continuous presses since 2008.
Two 2020 Yalian installations which we’ve added to the main listing are a 198,000m3 plant for Xinfeng Yuhua MDF Co at Shaoguan, Guangdong and a much larger rebuilt 660,000m3 facility for Bazhong Jianfeng New Materials Co.
Two further orders for Yalian on its reference list for 2021 are Ao Si Bai En Decoration Material Co’s 132,000m3 project in Pizhou, Jiangsu and Shengchang New Material Co’s line at Linyi, Shandong with the same capacity.
Nearing completion is a new “Super PB” plant for Guangxi Fenglin Wood Industry. The Dieffenbacher plant will have an annual capacity of 500,000m3 and the project is almost completed with the first board planned for the beginning of 2022.
The product using slender flakes in the core to make it a lower density board, resulting in materials and energy savings.
Dieffenbacher has completed numerous new plant projects for Super PB lines in China, some of which have involved adapting existing particleboard plants.
As WBPI went to press there was news of two more orders from Wanhua Ecoboard for straw-based Super PB plants in 2023 (see news section).
Elsewhere, we know that a 300,000m3 capacity line for Guangxi Xiangsheng Household Materials Technology Co Ltd (Siempelkamp) was announced in 2020 and due for completion in 2021. Plant supplier Siempelkamp said it could not currently confirm the project’s status, but the original quoted completion date was September, 2021.
The investment by Xiangsheng represents an important decision to adapt to the market demand.
The plant includes a ContiRoll Generation 9 press measuring 8.5ft x 40m, equipped with five forming heads for the production of a wide type of boards, underlining recent trends and the local market requirements of hybrid boards and increased production flexibility.
Moving to Thailand, an announcement was made in June that a plant is planned at Metro Ply Group in Surat Thani, with installation by Siempelkamp due to start in early 2022.
It features a Siempelkamp Generation 9 ContiRoll in the 8ft x 40.4m format and raw material to be used will be regional rubberwood plantations.
There is no official word yet on capacity or expected completion date, but we would expect it to be either late 2022 or into 2023.
With the deal, both partners realise the fourth joint project in total and the third specifically in the particleboard production segment.
Metro is one of the largest wood-based material producers in South-east Asia and the largest particleboard producer in the region.
Next, we turn to India – a country which has massive potential for growth in the wood industries.
One of India’s largest laminates manufacturers, Merino Industries Ltd, unveiled a plan in July to start particleboard production after ordering a new particleboard plant from Dieffenbacher.
Planned capacity is 270,000 m³/year and the first board is planned for early 2023.
The new plant is being constructed at Merino’s new site in Halol in the Indian state of Gujarat.
“Particleboard production is new to us,” said Merino’s managing director Prakash Lohia.
In addition to a CPS+ continuous press, Merino ordered a chipping line and flake preparation, forming station and forming line, press emission control system and raw board handling and the pneumatic transport and exhaust system with all necessary safety equipment. The order also includes the drum dryer and Lukki raw board storage system.
“This initiative is a big step in our efforts to continually enhance our business capabilities and reinforce our position as a leading company in the surfacing solutions industry,” concluded Merino managing director Prakash Lohia.
Technology provider Anthon also got an order for this project – to deliver a sanding and custom-cutting line – with delivery scheduled for the third quarter of 2022. Anthon is presently in talks with Indian wood-based panel companies about two more orders.
As mentioned in last year’s survey report, fellow Indian company CenturyPly has plans to build a new particleboard plant. Initially, a 150,000m3 capacity plant in Sitapur, Uttar Pradesh had been targeted – three times the size of its existing 54,000m3 capacity mill in Chennai.
Plans for this site were being reconsidered due to licensing issues and other options considered, including the expansion of the Hoshiarpur unit, Punjab.
We await further specific news, but one thing is for sure – Century Ply does see opportunities for particleboard expansion and has targeted 70 crore rupee investment over the next five years. The project is being left in our future capacity development table and we will review it again.
This also applies to the ENboard project in Japan. A joint venture was announced back in 2019 between furniture manufacturer Eidai Co Ltd and wood-based panels producer Japan Novopan Industrial Company Ltd to build a 300,000m3 particleboard plant near Mount Fuji featuring a 7ft x 47.1m Siempelkamp ContiRoll Generation 9 press. Its features also include a so-called PMDI (polymers of diphenylmethane diisocyanates) package.
In addition to the overall plant design, the order volume includes all core machines for wood processing, power generation and drying as well as classification and gluing systems.
Siempelkamp said it couldn’t comment on the stage of the process currently, so we will leave it in future capacity development and await further updates.
REST OF THE WORLD
North Africa has been a focus point for potential investment in wood-based panels factories in the last few years, with alternative raw material sources being the favoured planned feedstock.
Ghamoud ordered a complete particleboard plant from Dieffenbacher in October 2019.
The project is being executed together with Dieffenbacher’s Chinese subsidiary Shanghai Wood-based Panel Machinery (SWPM) and is believed to have a planned capacity of 115,000m3 and a planned press size of 6ft x 14.5m long.
Installation hasn’t started yet due to the coronavirus pandemic and there is no forecasted date available yet for work to commence.
South America has expressions of investment interest. In terms of particleboard specifically, Aglomerados Cotopaxi has plans for a new PB plant in Ecuador, with equipment to be supplied by Siempelkamp.
The established manufacturer already produces PB, MDF, mouldings and sawn timber, with the PB plant being constructed back in 1978 and the MDF plant in 1996.
There is no further news yet on the project timetable or scheduled capacity, so we will leave this under our future capacity developments.
Brazilian panels producers have generally reported positive business results during 2021, with Eucatex, which celebrated its 70th anniversary in 2021, saying demand in the domestic and export markets remains high.
The ABRAMAT (Brazilian Construction Materials Industry Association) Index, which measures the performance of construction material industries, ended the first nine months of 2021 up 15.2%, showing that the growth pace was strong.
IBÁ (Brazilian Tree Industry) figures on wood-based panels markets, together with Eucatex’s own estimates, show a 22.4% increase in the domestic market and 5.5% in the export market for the first nine months of 2021.
IBÁ’s figures for Q2 show a big increase of particleboard sales over the same period in 2020 with a volume of 835,000m3.
Finally, we have New Zealand. Guangxi Fenglin Wood Industry Group has floated various PB projects in the last couple of years. An initial plan for a 600,000m3 plant in Kawera has changed due to a site lease problem and Gisborne was the latest targeted location quoted, with a reported capacity plan of 400,000m3, though there have been no further updates.
WBPI welcomes input from mills and technology suppliers about mill capacity figures whether it relates to capacities of planned mills or adjustments/closures of existing mills.
