Chipboard production well below pre-pandemic levels

In 2023, Germany was once again Europe’s number one chipboard producer and accounts for 16% of the total production output in the EU, UK and EFTA (EU27, United Kingdom, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland).

However, 5.05 million m³ correspond to a decrease of nearly 9% compared to the previous year and of as many as 16% compared to the output in 2021. Following behind Germany is Poland, which defended second place (-2% to 3.7 million m³), and Italy, which is still the third largest producer of chipboards (-4% to 3.1 million m³). Austria’s role here is interesting. The small Alpine country ranks fifth among the largest production countries behind France (3 million m³; -6%). With a production volume of 2.1 million m3 (-7%), Austria is mainly responsible for the high importance of Central and Eastern Europe in this ranking.

These five countries alone account for around 55% of the total European production output in 2023. In addition, the leading wood-based panel manufacturers among the EPF member countries operate production facilities especially in Spain and Romania (around 1.8 million m³ each).

Upswing in sight

In this context, the forecast of the EPF members is interesting as well. For 2024, they expect moderate growth of 2%. Thus, the market should have reached the bottom in 2023 and should slowly stabilize again, even though the current situation in the construction industry still causes great uncertainty.

There is still room for improvement...

... when it comes to capacity. The installed production volume currently totals around 39.8 million m³. For comparison: In 2007, it was around 43 million m³. Based on the current level of production, there is the potential for a theoretical increase of nearly 30%. However, there has not been any change in this respect over the past five years, Spain being the only exception. There, 720,000 m³ of additional capacity were installed last year. This year, there should be some activity again. A new 900,000-m³ line is to go into operation in Luxembourg. Since a plant in Great Britain is to be closed at the same time, capacity should increase by around 700,000 m³ in 2024.

Germany still king of the chipboard

Germany is the European leader not only in terms of production, but also when it comes to consumption. However, as you can see in the table below, sales volumes fell by a substantial 10% last year. An even bigger year-on-year market slump was recorded only in Sweden (-11%) and Great Britain (-16%). The Spanish and Polish markets remained the most stable, with almost no change compared to 2022. What also stands out is the general overlap between the largest producer and consumer countries – with one exception: As a major producing country, Austria is a relatively small sales market. In 2023, national chipboard consumption was just under 680,000 m³. Although this corresponds to an 11% increase compared to 2022, Austria is still far from entering the Top 10.