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Report
from the UK
Manufacturers likely to raise prices in Q1
The Confederation of British Industry has surveyed over 557 companies to determine first quarter
prospects for the UK economy, according to TTJ. The survey showed that output would grow modestly
in the first quarter of 2008 and demand was likely to weaken. Additionally, it was
reported that manufacturers would raise prices in the first quarter of 2008 due to higher energy and commoditycosts. The trend points to a slowdown in the UK
economy.
Latham’s sales rise to 21%
Despite the less than positive year for the timber trade in 2007, TTJ reports that James Latham Group
has gained a 21% jump in sales. From April to September 2007, the company’s pre-tax profits rose
56% to GBP4.5 million in comparison to the same period in the previous year. Peter
Latham, chairman of the Latham Group, noted that merchant demand had slowed but demand from other
consumer groups had grown.
UK researcher claims deforestation data flawed
BBC News and Mongabay.com have reported on the work of a Leeds-based researcher, Dr. Alan
Grainger, who has pointed to flaws in UN data on tropical deforestation. Dr.
Grainger analyzed data from the UN Food and Agriculture Organization’s (FAO) Forest Resource Assessments
(FRA) to determine trends in tropical deforestation. Grainger could not point to clear trends in deforestation,
saying that deforestation was clearly occurring but there was no net decline in tropical forest cover. He noted that
the consistency between the FRAs was low and each assessment revised previous FRA data, leading
to difficulty in determining medium and long term trends. The FAO acknowledged the difficulty of
collecting data on and from tropical countries, but noted that the next FAO survey would use current
and historical satellite data and improve data consistency between countries. Dr.
Grainger said that actions should be taken to further improve data collection and advocated for establishing a
Wood Forest Observatory to provide more accurate measurements of tropical forest cover.
Report
from Europe
and Scandinavia
EU unlikely to expand Chinese plywood duties to UK
TTJ reported that the European Commission had published a letter indicating anti-dumping duties on
Chinese plywood were not likely to be extended to other Chinese plywood products with
non-okoume faced veneers. The European Federation of the Plywood Industry
(FEIC) proposed that duties applied to okoume-faced poplar plywood should also be applied to bintangor, red
canarium, kedondong and other face veneers. The EC was considering a final decision on the case. However, the
Timber Trade Federation in the UK welcomed the EC’s initial announcement, saying that the clarification would
help buyers to place new orders and expected orders to be on the rise.
Particleboard capacity largest in EU15
Wood Based Panels International analyzed the growth of the particleboard industry until 2009,
concluding that the EU15 will continue to be the single largest region producing particleboard. Based on the information
gathered, areas outside Europe and North America grew 8.9% in 2006, holding a
capacity of 2.1 million m3. However, the overall capacity of mills and operating lines
in the EU15 were larger and in 2006 had a capacity of over 31.6 million m3 while non-EU countries had 16.2
million m3. However, non-EU countries and regions other than Europe and North America were determined as the
primary engines for growth by 2009, and it is anticipated that these regions will add nearly 10.5 million
m3 in new capacity by 2009.
Norway pledges USD100 million to tropical rainforests
The National/Pacnews has indicated that tropical rainfoest countries will receive USD100 million from
Norway for environment and conservation programmes. The funding would primarily be dedicated to
education and forest conservation activities. PNG has already requested Norway to dedicate some of
the funding to its projects focused on capacity building, technology transfer,
education, reforestation, data collection and other pilot projects.
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