Near doubling until 2020
The European CLT production will double its volume until 2020. And also within said circle, the volume might show a near doubling in that period - first and foremost due to several new construction and expansion plans. Probably the largest project could develop in the Lavanttal region: Offner, owner of CLT pioneer KLH, is planning on establishing a second location close to the Offner sawmill. This would virtually make Wolfsberg an integrated site. Offner had already announced this expansion step at the KLH takeover in 2012. Now, five years later, there is every indication that this may happen soon.
A potential new construction - although not confirmed by the headquarters - would probably reach an annual production capacity of 100,000 m³ which other announced new constructions are an indication for.
Short distances
Only a few kilometers upstream along the Lavant river, the original production site of the three Stora Enso CLT productions in Bad St. Leonhard is situated. By means of process optimization, a site producing roughly 80,000 m³/yr is created. 9 kilometers further is Reichenfels, where Weinberger wants to boost its production of "CLT supplementary products" to about 20,000 m³ per year. Rumour has it that the Holzindustrie Pabst in Zeltweg has plans for a project of about 50,000 m³/yr - which would mean a total CLT production of 250,000 m³/yr on a route of only 50 km. Driving west from Zeltweg along the Murtal valley, 45 km down the road lies Katsch an der Mur which is home to KLH with a capacity of 110,000 m³/yr (possible until 2020). Traveling another 50 km, one reaches Unternberg and the Binderholz factory (170,000 m³/yr possible until 2020). So on a route of only 130 km, the CLT output amounts to 530,000 m³/yr.
Expansion in Western Austria
Another not yet confirmed rumour is that the timber industry in Western Austria is to be expanded. An annual production of 60,000 m³ would in any case seem reasonable for the region.
With a second production line, Hasslacher Norica Timber will double its production capacity until 2020 to a total of 80,000 m³/yr. Mayr-Melnhof, too, is aiming at a similar production volume within said timespan.
1 million m³ lumber required
For all CLT productions within this radius, 550,000 m³ of lumber were required in 2016 already. If all of the mentioned projects are realized, lumber demand would rise to about 1 million m³/yr.
| Existing CLT productions and potential CLT projects |
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| Company | Location | 2016 | projected | Remarks |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Existing | ||||
| Binderholz | Unternberg | 145,000 | 180,000 | – |
| KLH Massivholz I | Katsch a. d. Mur | 88,000 | 110,000 | new press taken into account |
| Hasslacher Norica Timber | Stall im Mölltal | 40,000 | 80,000 | second press taken into account |
| Mayr-Melnhof Holz | Gaishorn | 60,000 | 80,000 | – |
| Stora Enso | Bad St. Leonhard | 65,000 | 70,000 | – |
| Holzbau Unterrainer | Ainet/AT | 4,500 | 5,000 | – |
| Potential projects | ||||
| KLH Massivholz II | Wolfsberg/Wiesenau | – | 100,000 | not confirmed by company |
| Project in Western Austria | within the 100 km radius | – | 60,000 | company wants to remain anonymous |
| Johann Pabst Holzindustrie | Zeltweg | – | 50,000 | not confirmed by company |
| Weinberger Holz | Reichenfels/AT | 5,500 | 20,000 | supplementary product |
| Total | 408,000 | 755,000 | ||
| Total growth: | – | 224,500 | ||
| Production growth in % | – | 85 | ||
| European production* | 680,000 | 1,250,000 | ||
| % share in the „100 km radius“ | 60 | 60 | ||
*European production: including planned expansions in Austria, Holzindustrie Pfeifer in Germany, Stora Enso in Sweden, Legal & General in the UK (refer to Holzkurier printed edition volume 24, page 4) Source: Timber-Online 2017 |
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