It was an anniversary worth celebrating – the tenth European Wood-Based Panel Symposium was a gathering of representatives from manufacturers of wood-based panels, the supply industry and research institutes. At the symposium in Hamburg, the experts discussed processing technologies, alternative and organic adhesives, the sustainable transformation of wood-based panels, measurement and testing methods, VOC emissions and recycling.
Michael Wolff, CEO of Pfleiderer Group S.A., presented current market statistics for the European Panel Federation (EPF) and highlighted the encouraging way that the sector is developing. He said it was expected that demand for wood-based panels would exceed 45 million m3 by 2019 at the latest. This would match the level from before the industry-wide crisis in 2008 for the first time.
The symposium is held every two years by the Fraunhofer Institute for Wood Research and the EPF, with support from the IVTH (International Association for Technical Issues Related to Wood) and Sasol Wax. Around 54 percent of the participants came from Germany. 35 percent came from other European countries and 11 percent came from outside Europe.
