State and trend development of wood-based panels in the world

In 1993. the world wood-based panel market totalled 126 million m3. The dominant wood-based panel product is plywood with the present market share of over 50 million m3. We expect that in the late 1990s the plywood market will continue to decline as the restrictions on the availability of large diameter logs will limit the production in North America and South Asia. The particleboard consumption has been growing steadily around 3% annually since 1970. By the year 2000 particleboard will be the dominant wood-based panel product. FAO projects total wood-based panel consumption to the year 2020 to more than double levels - to 301 million m3. Since 1970 the most significant expansion has taken place within the MDF (Medium Density Fibre board) and the OSB (Oriented Structural Board) markets. The present annual OSB consumption of almost 10 million m3 will nearly double by the year 2000. The MDF consumption of 7.7 million m3 in 1993. will nearly triple by the year 2000. The world's major woodpanel market is North America, where plywood is predominant. The consumption of plywood accounts for about 50% of the total wood-based panel consumption in the region. Europe is clearly a particleboard market. The share of particleboard is about 70% of the total panel consumption. Global imports of wood-based panels reached almost 34 million m3 in 1993. The two major importers of these products were Japan, with 16.2% of all shipments (5.5 million m3), and the US with 16%. The major exporters of wood-based panels (both softwood and hardwood, structural and non-structural panels) were led by Indonesia. In 1993 Indonesia's exports of 9.2 million m3 (mainly hardwood plywood) represented 26.5 % of the world's trade (34.7 million m3), while Canada came second (with 11.2%).