EPF Annual General Meeting 2014

Addressing the Open Part of the General Assembly on Friday 20 June, the President, Mr Ladislaus Döry, reported that the European particleboard production in the EPF member countries shrank further last year though to a lesser extent than in 2012, by 1.5% compared to -5.5% in 2012. Output amounted to 28.4 million m³. This production level thus remains far below the output peak of 37.8 million m³ observed in 2007. The expectations for this year are stable to slightly positive. The rise in production in the EU-EFTA area as a whole is estimated at +1.5% for 2014, resulting in a particleboard production slightly below 29 million m³.

Following a significant drop by 6% in 2012, MDF production in Europe upturned by 2.1% in 2013 reaching 11.2 million m³, excluding Turkish and Russian production. However, this production level remains significantly lower than the peak of 13.3 million m³ in 2007. With a stable output of about 3.5 million m3. In 2013, MDF consumption in Europe remained quite flat and exceeded 10.2 million m³.

The European production of OSB rose significantly by 6% in 2013 and exceeded 3.7 million m³. This level is now approaching the production peak of 2007. Germany and Romania have the largest European OSB production capacities.

In 2013, the production of hardboard in Europe decreased by 5% compared to 2012, reaching almost 675,000 m3 excluding Russia. 92% of sales went towards EU28, EFTA, Russia, Turkey and the Balkans. Following a slight increase by 2% in 2012, the European production of softboard, including Norway and Switzerland, gained momentum in 2013 and grew by 8% exceeding the 4 million m3 threshold. Rigid board accounted for 68% of the output and flexboard for 32%. 96% of the sales went towards EU28, EFTA, Russia, Turkey and the Balkans.

President Döry concluded that the general economic situation in Europe has started to improve, though very slowly and with many uncertainties. Consumers’ confidence and other indicators point to a certain optimism although signs of sustained growth are still missing. The wood-based panel industry is still struggling to get out of the economic downturn and proofed already successful for OSB and softboard as well as for MDF though to a lesser extent. On the contrary, particleboard and, especially, hardboard have yet to upturn.

Mr Döry added that, after many years of intense lobbying actions, the years 2013 and 2014 can certainly be remembered as the years of important achievements. First of all, the European Institutions have recognised the important role of wooden products for climate change. With this Decision the EU Commission invites “Member States to provide incentives for the use of harvested wood products with long life cycles” as well as to take measures to increase the pool of harvested wood products.

Regretfully, the sector continues to face significant challenges such as the limited availability of wood, and also some recent EU developments which are not supportive of the industry’s recovery such as the final draft of the Wood-Based Panel Best available techniques REFerence document (WBP BREF) or the DG CLIMA’s draft proposal to remove the wood-based panels sector (NACE 16.21); from the list of sectors deemed at risk of carbon leakage within the Emission Trading Scheme (ETS). This will keep the federation and its members busy for the next months and years to come.

Additionally, Mr Alastair Kerr, Chairman of EPF’s Raw Materials Task Force, explained that EPF also has a proactive work plan. Indeed, EPF in collaboration with EOS and CEI-Bois will organise the Brussels Wood Action Days on 22-24 September and co-ordinate the pan-European Wood Action Week throughout Europe during the first week of October 2014. The aim is to inform new Members of Parliaments on the woodworking industries and on the opportunities and challenges for our sector. He invited all members to participate very actively.

Furthermore, Mrs Alessandra Tracogna of CSIL provided an overview of the European Furniture Sector, Mr Lieven Tarras presented the ‘Clean Energy Technology’ vision by main sponsor Vyncke and Mr Frederic Bulcaen explained the ‘Happy dedusters, passionate pneumatic conveyors’ from the 2nd main sponsor Typhoon.

During the internal meetings, the members enjoyed enlightening presentations by Mr Wolfgang Gutting of BASF (representing Formacare) on Trends and forecasts on the glue market, and impacts on the wood-based panels sector and by Mr Kelly Shotbolt, Chairman of the Composite Panel Association and CEO of Flakeboard, on the economic, regulatory and public opinion issues affecting the North American wood-based panels producers, as well as by Mr Alastair Kerr of WPIF on the actual situation of the UK bioenergy production and the challenges it represents for the wood-based panel sector.

To conclude, Mr Döry expressed its gratitude to Fedustria, the Belgian Member Association, and his member companies Unilin, Spanolux and Norbord and their respective teams for as well as all their sponsors for the excellent organisation of this year’s Annual General Meeting in the wonderfully beautiful and cozy medieval city of Bruges. All venues were great choices and the organisation was very smooth resulting in many positive reactions from the attendees.

* For further information: www.europanels.eu / www.europeanpanels.eu / www.osb-info.org / www.mdf-info.org