Basically in contradiction to the poor sales situation, CLT production will continue to grow in 2023, albeit at a significantly lower rate than in previous years. The figures reported by manufacturers from the DACH region, Italy and the Czech Republic show an increase of 4% to 1.27 million m³ and thus another production record.
Given the current market situation, this development is atypical at first glance. It is mainly due to newcomers or fairly new market participants whose capacities are far from being fully utilized. In 2023 alone, five new production facilities will be launched by best wood Schneider, Mayr-Melnhof Holz, Mosser Leimholz, Schilliger and Ziegler Holztechnik.
Major projects in the DACH region
Mayr-Melnhof Holz is carrying out the biggest investment project in the company’s history at its headquarters in Leoben. There, the group is building a cross-laminated timber plant with an annual capacity of 140,000 m³. Together with its CLT production site in Gaishorn am See, the Styrian company’s total capacity amounts to well over 200,000 m³ a year.
best wood Schneider is starting up a cross-laminated timber line with an annual capacity of 100,000 m³ next to a sawmill at its newly built production site in Meßkirch/DE. At its headquarters in Eberhardzell, the company already produces an annual 25,000 m³ of CLT with a width of 1.25 m. For the production of the same system format, Mosser Leimholz recently put a production line into operation in Randegg.
In Hermsdorf, at the former Tecsol factory, Ziegler concentrates and expands its glued timber competencies. Even though the site was originally designed almost exclusively for glulam, a CLT line was put into operation there a few months ago. In the future, Ziegler wants to process around two thirds of its production output into finished modules, while one third is to be sold. In 2021, the company had also announced a major project in Tirschenreuth, Bavaria, which includes two CLT lines, each with an annual capacity of 75,000 m³, as well as a house construction line for up to 3,000 houses a year. At the moment, Ziegler is waiting for the development plan to be approved. Only then, the detailed planning can start and the expected start of production can be determined. At the same time, the company will closely monitor the market and, if necessary, react to it and make adjustments.
In addition to its production facility in Küssnacht/CH, the Swiss timber group Schilliger is currently building a second CLT plant at its French site in Volgelsheim, directly at the German border. Regular production is scheduled to start at the beginning of 2024.
Another jump in capacity
According to the machine suppliers, there are still some Central European companies who plan to increase their capacities, but most of those plans have been put on hold for the time being. In light of the current economic situation and the existing capacities, this is not surprising. When you add up the possible output of the existing plants and the plants which are under construction, you get around 2.3 million m³ a year which will be available in the coming years (see below).
However, experience has shown that even in times of a buoyant economy, it takes several years for a company to build up the necessary structures – from planning to production and sales – to be able to come close to fully utilizing their theoretical capacities. Once Cltech’s planned production site in Kaiserslautern has gone into operation sometime next year, the times of huge investment projects will probably be over for quite a while.
| Glued products, volumes in m³ | |||||||||
| Company | Location | 2022 | Target 2023 | One-shift capacity | Products and services | Joint gluing | Adhesive | Types of wood for surface | Format up to [m] |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Agrop Nova | Ptení/CZ | 7,000 | 8,000 | n/s | high-quality visible quality, continuous top-layer laminations of up to 10 m, ribbed elements with insulation, acoustic panels, façade panels with metal coating, panels with veneer surfaces, surface finishing for indoors/outdoors | yes | MUF/PUR | spruce, fir, silver fir, old wood | 2.95 x 12 |
| Artuso Legnami* | Caselle TV/IT | 30,000 | 30,000 | 30,000 | – | – | PUR | spruce | – |
| best wood Schneider | Eberhardzell/DE | 25,000 | 25,000 | n/s |
joining, varnishing | yes | PUR | spruce | widths of up to 1.25 m |
| best wood Schneider | Meßkirch/DE | – | – | – | launched in 2023 | – | – | – | – |
| Binderholz Bausysteme | Unternberg/AT, Burgbernheim/DE | 220,000 | 220,000 | 110,000 | BBS 125 system format, BBS XL large format | with visible quality | PUR | spruce, larch, Swiss pine, silver fir, antique | 1.25 x 24; 3.5 x 22 |
| CLT Suisse | Orges/CH | n/s |
n/s |
n/s |
– | – | – | – | – |
| Eugen Decker | Morbach/DE, | 25,000 | 25,000 | 25,000 | special structures and formats | no | PUR | spruce, Douglas fir, pine | 3.3 x 16 |
| FHS Holzbau | Grassau / DE, Veseli n.L. / CZ | 10,000 | 10,000 | 10,000 | high-quality surfaces; ~ 20 types of wood; integration of wall and ceiling heating systems (carbon or water) possible with exclusive surface; prefabricated CLT staircases |
with A-quality | PUR | ~ 20, e.g. spruce, oak, Swiss pine, larch | 3.3 x 12.6 (13.05 for ceiling elements) |
| Derix-Gruppe | Niederkrüchten/DE, Westerkappeln/DE | 30,000 | 35,000 | n/s |
– | no | MUF/PUR | spruce, fir larch | 3.5 x 17.8 |
| Hasslacher Gruppe | Stall im Mölltal/AT | 60,000 | 50,000 | n/s |
X-fix, surface finishing, Excellent surface, dimensions ordered = dimensions billed, all surfaces sanded |
on request | MUF | spruce, larch, pine, fir, Swiss pine, birch, oak | 3.2 x 20 |
| Hasslacher Gruppe | Magdeburg/DE | n/s |
n/s |
n/s |
up to 24 m without universal finger joints, sanded up to 20 m, otherwise planed, X-fix, surface finishing, no standard lengths | on request | MUF | spruce, fir | 1.25 x 24 |
| HBS | Berga/DE | 30,000 | 35,000 | 35,000 | sanded surfaces, visible quality since 2022, joining | yes | PUR | spruce | 3.5 x 16 |
| HBS | Somplar/DE | 18,000 | 20,000 | 15,000 | elements of up to 3.6 x 18 m, joining | no | PUR | spruce | 3.6 x 18 |
| Holzbauwerk Schwarzwald | Seewald/DE | n/s | n/s | 20,000 | all layers completely joint-glued and load-bearing; knot-free rift/visible-quality surface; silver fir; joining competence | yes | PUR | spruce, silver fir | 3.5 x 16 |
| Kurt Huber | Achern/DE | 5,000 | 5,000 | 7,000 | individually to size |
yes | PUR | spruce, fir | 3.8 x 19 |
| KLH Massivholz | Teufenbach-Katsch/AT, Wiesenau/AT | 150,000 | 150,000 | n/s | project support, JAS, PRG 320, FSC, on request: surface gluing with heat-resistant adhesive HBX | on request | PUR | all types of softwood, mostly spruce | 3.5 x 16.5 |
| Lignotrend | Weilheim/DE | 29,000 | 28,000 | n/s | customizable CLT (visible quality, acoustics, fire safety, sound insulation) | n/s | PUR | silver fir, spruce, oak, etc | 2.5 x 18 |
| LOC Holz | Arbing/AT | 5,000 | 20,000 | 20,000 | knot-free rift/visible-quality surface; wood moisture 8-10% dry; spruce/fir/larch; load-bearing narrow-edge gluing; air-tight from 3 layers | yes | MUF | spruce, fir, larch | 3.6 x 16 |
| Mayr-Melnhof Holz | Gaishorn/AT | 61,000 | 60,000 | n/s | 3 to 9 layers; surface qualities: visible, industrial visible, non-visible; project-specific CNC joining | no | MUF, PUR | spruce | 3.5 x 16 |
| Mayr-Melnhof Holz | Leoben/AT (1) | 0 | 10,000 | n/s | yes | PUR | spruce | 3.5 x 16 | |
| Mosser Leimholz (2) | Randegg/AT | 0 | 5,000 | 15,000 | system format 1,250 mm, horizontal finger joints, special widths from 1,000 mm | all layers | PUR | spruce | 1.25 x 14 |
| Holz Meissnitzer | Niedernsill/AT | 4,000 | 4,000 | 2,000 | – | no | PUR | spruce, fir | 4 x 15 |
| Pfeifer Group | Schlitz/DE | 55,000 | 60,000 | 30,000 | – | planned | PUR | spruce | 3.1 x 14.5 |
| Rubner Holzbau | Brixen/IT | 7,315 | 8,200 | n/s | surface impregnation | no | Purbond HB S309 | spruce, larch | 4.2 x 17 |
| Schwarzwald Holzbausysteme | Friesenheim/DE | 16,000 | 18,000 | 12,500 | loading with residential visible quality on the bottom, SBSplus elements with widths of 3.9 m | with residential visible quality | PUR | spruce, larch, Douglas fir, silver fir | 3.9 x 16.2 |
| Schilliger Holz (3) | Küssnacht/CH | 40,000 | 40,000 | – | – | yes | PUR | spruce, fir, Douglas fir | 3.4 x 14 |
| Pius Schuler | Rothenthurm/CH | n/s | n/s | n/s | n/s | n/s | n/s | spruce, fir, pine, larch | 3 x 9 |
| Stora Enso (4,*) | Bad St. Leonhard/AT | 80,000 | 70,000 | n/s | visible, industrial visible, non-visible; sanded, air-tight from 3 layers, production of ribbed elements; automated coating line in Ybbs from autumn of 2023 | yes | PUR | sprue, pine, fir | 2.95 x 16; 3.95 x 16 (on request) |
| Stora Enso (4,*) | Ybbs/AT | 110,000 | 95,000 | n/s | |||||
| Stora Enso (4,*) | Ždírec/CZ | 40,000 | 50,000 | n/s | widths of up to 3.5 m | ||||
| Theurl Austrian Premium Timber | Steinfeld/AT | 70,000 | 70,000 | – | narrow-edge gluing, visible, enhanced industrial, industrial quality, optimization of loading space, 4 CAD systems: SEMA, Dietrich's, cadwork, hsbCAD | yes | PUR | spruce | 3.5 x 16 |
| Holzbau Unterrainer | Ainet/AT | 10,000 | 8,000 | 5,000 | curved CLT (“radius timber”) with min. radius of 2 m | no | PUR | spruce, larch, Swiss pine | 2.95 x 13.5 |
| Holzwerke van Roje | Oberhonnefeld/DE | 8,000 | 25,000 | 35,000 | joining, visible qualities, protective covers for the duration of construction | no | PUR | Fi, Dou, Lä | 3.5 x 16 |
| Weinberger Holz | Reichenfels/AT | n/s | n/s | n/s | non-settling log-house planks crosslam (cross-laminated beams), Bilam forte | yes | PUR | spruce, Douglas fir, larch | 1.2 x 13.5 |
| Xlam Dolomiti | Castelnuovo/IT | 23,000 | 23,000 | 25,000 | production of ribbed elements; prefabricated floor and ceiling elements, adhesive HB & HBX, planning and construction | yes | PUR (HB, HBX) | spruce | 3.5 x 13.5 |
| Ziegler Holztechnik | Hermsdorf/DE | 20,000 | 35,000 | 17,500 | joining and pre-assembly possible | yes | MUF | spruce, pine | 3 x 16.5 |
| ZÜBLIN Timber (5) | Aichach/DE | 30,000 | 30,000 | 13,000 | type approval, LENO®-ADD, CLT formwork | no/on request for top layer | PUR | softwood, fine wood, Fineline | 4.8 x 19.8 |
