Wood-Based Panel Industry: An Analysis

Publication Date	June 2009
Publisher	Koncept Analytics
Product Type	Report
Pages	45
ISBN Number	not applicable
Product Code	KOA04810

Buy this product or for assistance call +44 20 7060 7474

PDF £480.00$798 | €537

FAX Order above formats by FAX

Summary

The wood-based panel industry has failed to continue its growth momentum in the wake of the events on financial markets in 2008 that had a severe impact on the global economy. As the demand for wood-based panel products correlates to a significant degree to the level of residential construction activity, it is expected that there will be no near-term relief for the panel makers, both in North America and Europe from housing market pressures.

The North American wood panel market has seen stagnation since 2007 and this is evident from shrinking profitability of the panel makers. Also prices of panels have gone down recently. The demand for wood panels mainly comes from housing starts and so this industry is highly dependent on the construction sector. The North American market remains extremely challenging still driven by the US housing and credit crises.

In the United States, OSB and plywood are the dominant panels being utilized and the large capacity increase in OSB has resulted in declining prices for the panels, which in turn is impacting the margins of the panel makers.

One of the challenges that both the North American and European panel makers are facing is the increasing imports from China.

The European panel makers had generated huge profitability and strong growth in the last few years on the back of the growing construction industry and growth of the furniture sector. However, the challenges that European panel makers have been facing is the increasing costs of various inputs like wood, resin and energy. Also, the European panel makers are competing with the biomass industry for the procurement of wood.

The turnaround in the housing market in North America is not expected to be met until 2010 and experts believe that 2009 will be a transition year with tough conditions similar to 2008. In the year 2009, downward pressure is likely to continue but from 2010 onwards, demand is likely to catch up. Also the demand for wood-based panels in Europe is expected to decline significantly in 2009 but it would start reviving from 2010 onwards.

The report titled "Wood-Based Panel Industry: An Analysis" studies the overall wood panel industry with specific focus on the North American and European markets. The report analyzes the major segments of the wood-based panels -Particleboard (PB), Medium Density Fiber board (MDF), Oriented Strand Board (OSB) and Plywood for both the European and North American markets. It studies the major global trends in the demand for structural panels and also highlights the challenges faced by panel makers. Further, the report analyzes the competitive landscape of the industry and features three major panel makers - Sonae Industria, Pfleiderer and Louisiana Pacific. Moreover, the report analyzes the future of the industry for 2009 and 2010 in the context of global economic slowdown, slump in the housing and construction industry and prices of input products.

We have predicted the future growth of the wood-based panel industry by combining SPSS Inc.'s data integration and analysis capabilities with our relevant findings,. We employed various significant variables that have an impact on this industry and created regression models with SPSS Base to determine the future direction of the industry. Before deploying the regression model, the relationship between several independent or predictor variables and the dependent variable was analyzed using standard SPSS output, including charts, tables and tests.

Content

1. Wood-Based Panels: Definition and Applications
2. Wood-Based Panel Market: An Overview
3. North American Wood-Based Panel Market
- 3.1 Particleboard (PB)
- 3.2 Medium Density Fiber board (MDF)
- 3.3 Oriented Strand Board (OSB)
- 3.4 Plywood
4. European Wood-Based Panel Market
- 4.1 Particleboard (PB)
- 4.2 Medium Density Fiber board (MDF)
- 4.3 Oriented Strand Board (OSB)
- 4.4 Plywood
5. Wood-Based Panels: Supply Chain Analysis
- 5.1 Industry Characteristics
- 5.2 Sourcing of raw materials
- 5.3 Sales and distribution
6. Market Trends
- 6.1 Trends in Wood Costs
- 6.2 OSB Pricing Trends
- 6.3 OSB substitution for Plywood
- 6.4 Consolidation of European Wood-based Panel Industry
- 6.5 Brazil Strong performance in Wood Panel Sector
- 6.6 South Africa - Increased Input Costs
- 6.7 China a Major Player in Wood Panel Industry
7. Market Challenges
- 7.1 Homebuilding Market and Economic Risks
- 7.2 Rising Input Costs
8. Competitive Landscape
9. Company Profiles
- 9.1 Sonae Industria
  - 9.1.1 Company Description
  - 9.1.2 Business Segments
  - 9.1.3 Business Strategies
- 9.2 Pfleiderer
  - 9.2.1 Company Description
  - 9.2.2 Business Segments
  - 9.2.3 Business Strategies
- 9.3 Louisiana Pacific
  - 9.3.1 Company Description
  - 9.3.2 Business Segments
  - 9.3.3 Business Strategies
10. Industry Outlook
- 10.1 Market Forecast
  - 10.1.1 Macro-Economic Environment
  - 10.1.2 Housing and Construction Industry
  - 10.1.3 Wood-based panel industry
- 10.2 Forecast Methodology
  - 10.2.1 Dependent and Independent Variables
  - 10.2.2 Correlation Analysis
  - 10.2.3 Regression Analysis
Figures and Tables
- Figure 1.1: Classification of Wood-based Panels
- Figure 2.1: Global Wood-based Panel Production: 2003-2007
- Figure 2.2: Global Wood-based Panel Production by Region: 2007
- Figure 3.1: North American Wood PanelProduction & Consumption: 2003-07
- Figure 3.2: United States Wood PanelProduction: 2003-07
- Figure 3.3: North American ParticleboardProduction & Consumption: 2003-07
- Figure 3.4: North American MDFProduction & Consumption: 2003-07
- Figure 3.5: North American Structural Panel Production: 2001-2008
- Figure 3.6: North American OSBProduction & Consumption: 2003-07
- Figure 3.7: US Housing Starts: 2004-2008
- Figure 3.8: OSB & Plywood Production North America: 2001-2008
- Figure 3.9: North American PlywoodProduction & Consumption: 2003-07
- Figure 4.1: European Wood Panel - Production & Consumption: 2003-2007
- Figure 4.2: European Wood Panel Volume by Type: 2007
- Figure 4.3: European Particleboard - Production & Consumption: 2003-2007
- Figure 4.4: European MDF - Production & Consumption: 2003-2007
- Figure 4.5: European OSB - Production & Consumption: 2003-2007
- Figure 4.6: European Plywood - Production & Consumption: 2003-2007
- Figure 6.1: Historical OSB Pricing (North America): 2001-2008
- Figure 6.2: European OSB Prices: 2004-2008
- Figure 6.3: North American Structural Panel Production OSB & Plywood Share: 2001-2008
- Figure 7.1: US Housing Starts: 2004-2008
- Figure 8.1: Leading global wood based panel players
- Figure 8.2: Leading European wood based panel players
- Figure 8.3: North America OSB Market Share: 2008
- Figure 8.4: North America Installed Rawboard Capacity (Leading Players): 2008
- Figure 8.5: Central Europe Installed Rawboard Capacity (Leading Players): 2008
- Figure 9.1: Sonae - revenue split by product: 2007
- Figure 9.2: Pfleiderer - revenue split by segment: 2007
- Figure 9.3: Pfleiderer - Revenue split by Industry
- Figure 9.4: Louisiana Pacific - revenue split by segment: 2007
- Figure 10.1: North American Structural Panel Production Forecast: 2009-2010
- Figure 10.2: European Wood-Based Panel Production Forecast: 2008-2010
- Table 1.1: Applications and Make of Wood-based Panels
- Table 10.1 Dependent & Independent Variables (1998 2007)
- Table 10.2 Correlation Matrix
- Table 10.3 Model Summary Coefficient of Determination
- Table 10.4 Regression Coefficients Output