European Wood-Based Panel Production Declined 6.3% in 2023

Posted on June 26, 2024

On Wednesday, The European Panel Federation (EPF) said European wood-based panel production declined by a “disappointing” 6.3% in 2023, Timber Trades Journal reported (6-26-24). The figures are contained in the EPF’s Annual Report 2023, released at the Federation’s AGM on June 19–21 in Riga, Latvia.

One upside of the report is that wood-based panels exceeded the overall performances of the two main end-use sectors (furniture and construction), suggesting a gain of share in both segments for wood.

The 2023 breakdown by product is as follows:

  • OSB was the sole panel product area that saw production growth in the EU27/UK/EFTA region, rising 2% to 6.6 million m3 (2022: 6.5 million m3).
  • Particleboard, the largest product area, recorded a 5% decrease with 30.9 million m3 in production (2022: 32.5 million m3).
  • MDF saw a bigger drop, decreasing 11% to 11.1 million m3 (2022: 12.5 million m3).
  • Softboard (mainly wood fiber insulation boards) has been an area of significant growth in recent years, but it declined 6% to 4.8 million m3 (2022: 5.2million m3).
  • Plywood production saw a large 15% decline to 2.6 million m3 (2022: 3.1 million m3).
  • Hardboard saw a 17% reduction, though this is the smallest product area for the European wood-based panels industry at 400,000 m3 (2022: 500,000 m3).
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