The Steico Group takes second production line for laminated veneer lumber at its plant in Czarna Woda in Poland. Installing the second production line has doubled LVL production capacity to around 160,000 cbm/a.

The new LVL2 line will be run 24/7 using four shifts and will mostly be used to produce flange material for Steico’s Ijoists.

Last but not least, Steico expects that the use of bark and production residues to produce energy will allow the majority of production heat and steam to be produced in the two biomass power plants. In addition, Steico is exempt from Polish income tax until 2025 due to its use of a special economic zone in Czarna Woda.

Steico develops, produces and markets ecological construction products made of renewable raw materials. Steico is the European market leader for wood fiber insulation materials.

JSC “Kata” modernizes sawline at the company’s sawmill in Ust-Ilimsk, Russia. Existing log edger will be replaced by a QSS-700L, where up to 4 settable boards can be sawn. Each board can be cut to various thicknesses for optimized value.

The secondary breakdown will be completed with a profiler where 2 boards can be cut in the cant.
The project will take place in the spring 2018.

Drax Biomass Inc. (DBI) began start up production at its newest facility, LaSalle BioEnergy in Urania, Louisiana. The wood pellet manufacturing facility, which is roughly 160 miles northwest of Baton Rouge can produce approximately 450,000 metric tons of wood pellets per year. LaSalle BioEnergy will employee approximately 78 employees and is the third pellet plant in DBI’s portfolio.

A series of upgrades and repairs have been ongoing at the plant since the acquisition in early April of 2017, supporting a further investment of more than $20 million for the region. The asset was a strategic investment considering LaSalle BioEnergy’s proximity to an abundant wood basket and its production capacity that supports DBI’s strategy of increasing self-supply.

LaSalle BioEnergy further demonstrates DBI’s commitment to the revitalization of the local wood products sector, which has suffered in recent years from the closure of several large-scale paper mills. Drax Biomass is committed to expanding its positive presence and supporting the communities in which it operates by promoting sustainable forestry and investing in local economic development.

Drax Biomass Inc. is a manufacturer of compressed wood pellets produced from sustainably managed working forests.

One year ago, 120 professionals gathered at Ribeirão Preto, in Brazil, for the launch presentation of the fourth edition of the fair.

In these past 365 days since the launch of Expoforest 2018, forestry professionals’ expectations for the world’s biggest forestry event of 2018 have only increased. “In all editions, we present the Fair to the market at least a year and a half before opening day. This procedure is necessary due to the complexity involved in organizing the fair – for the organizers as well as the exhibitors,” explains Rafael Malinovski, business director at Malinovski, organizers of Expoforest.

A few details about the fair are enough to confirm its complexity: Expoforest is Brazil’s biggest fairs in terms of overall area (200 hectares), with the longest trails (4 kilometers); it also takes place outdoors, requires extensive eucalyptus felling, as well as land leveling and destumping operations and the construction of the trails and parking lot. “There is nothing like Expoforest in this country.

Our field team has already cleared the parking lot, the static area, the dynamic silviculture area and trails – over six months ago. Now, we are destumping and land leveling the parking lot, the static area and the trails. Our next step is to complete felling operations for other dynamic exhibit áreas, as per our exhibitors’ requests,” outlines Malinovski.

At the moment, 217 companies are already confirmed exhibitors for the 4^th Expoforest that will be held between April 11th and 13th of 2018. “This means that 80% of exhibit areas have already been sold. This number reflects directly the importance of the fair for the forestry market, which understands participating in Expoforest is a strategic decision, especially as the fair only takes place every four years”, Malinovski adds.

According to the organizers, expectations for growth regarding the 2014 edition, which brought 208 exhibitors to the fair, are of 40%. The number of visitors is also expected to increase significantly: after all, Expoforest will be the world’s largest forestry fair in 2018. “Over 30 thousand visitors are expected, and we are certain they will be awed by the scope of the fair as they feel the true Extreme spirit”, he concludes.

Companies interested in exhibiting their products and services in Expoforest 2018 may contact the comercial team at expoforest@malinovski.com.br or call +55 41 3049-7888.

The event:
Expoforest is a dynamic forestry fair. In its 3^rd edition, carried out at Mogi Guaçu, 208 exhibitors presented equipment and technology used for wood production from planted forests. Overall, 25.107 visitors from 27 countries and 26 Brazilian states were present at the event. Business transactions at the fair resulted in over R$ 152 million in sales. Malinovski is the organizer of the event.

Information:
Expoforest 2018
Date: April 11^th to 13^th, 2018
Location: Ribeirão Preto Area – São Paulo state – Brazil
Telefone: +55 (41) 3049-7888 / +55 (41) 9 9924-3993
E-mail: expoforest@malinovski.com.br
www.expoforest.com.br  

In the autumn, Sweden’s stock volumes are lower and this year they have been especially small. The total stocks of coniferous saw logs, pulpwood and wood chips were estimated to 6.3 million cubic meters of September 30, 2017. This is a decrease by 18% compared with the same time last year, as Swedish Forest Agency reports.

The stock of coniferous saw logs is estimated to 2.2 million cubic metres. Compared with the same period last year this is a decline by 21%.

The total stocks of pulpwood amounted to 3.4 million cubic metres, a decline by 18% compared to the 3Q 2016. The reduced stock volume of pulpwood was both on Scots pine/mixed coniferous pulpwood as well as Norway spruce- and broad-leaved pulpwood. The stock volumes decreased in all wood balance regions and in all type of storage locations.

The stock volumes of wood chips were estimated to 0.7 million cubic metres. This is a decline by 15%, compared to last year 2016.

Dieffenbacher -is increasing production capacities at the production site in Brno, Czech Republic. In addition to the current production program, machines for wood chipping such as debarkers, chippers, mills or knife ring flakers are now being produced at the site.

“Thanks to the existing infrastructure and the qualifications of the staff, the Brno site is optimal. With this expansion we improve the level of value generation of the Dieffenbacher Group and optimize our ability to process orders quickly. We make use of the synergy effects that arise from cooperating within the Group. Furthermore, we are happy to increase the number of currently 100 jobs at the site in Brno to 120 by adding jobs in the areas of production planning, purchasing, construction and production,” says Dr. Miroslav Jopek, Managing Director of Dieffenbacher CZ.

BillerudKorsnäs has signed a letter of intent to acquire Bergvik Skog Öst AB, owned by Bergvik Skog AB. The transaction will secure parts of BillerudKorsnäs’ wood supply, and improve the possibilities to manage the mix of internal and external wood flows in order to increase efficiency.

Bergvik Skog AB was formed in 2004 through an acquisition of the Swedish forest holdings of Korsnäs and Stora Enso. The biological assets of Korsnäs represented in 2004 approximately 17% (Bergvik Skog Öst AB) and the Stora Enso assets approximately 83% (Bergvik Skog Väst AB). As part of the transaction in 2004, long term wood supply agreements were agreed between Bergvik Skog AB and Korsnäs and Stora Enso.

The letter of intent, which concerns a division of Bergvik Skog AB’s forest assets among current owners, has been signed with other owners that together with BillerudKorsnäs represent about 98% of the ownership in Bergvik Skog AB. After the signing of the letter of intent, which is non-binding, the parties will now verify the current assets included in Bergvik Skog Öst and Väst, respectively, and define the final terms of BillerudKorsnäs’ acquisition of Bergvik Skog Öst AB.

As a part of the LOI, the purchase price principle has been defined as IFRS book value plus 3% for the assets included in the transaction. Simultaneous to acquiring Bergvik Skog Öst AB, BillerudKorsnäs intends to divest its indirect 5% ownership in the forest assets in Bergvik Skog Väst AB. The ambition is to close these transactions during 2018.

The European Investment Bank and Svenska Cellulosa Aktiebolaget (SCA) have signed a Euro 150 million loan agreement. The EIB financing will support renewable energy and energy efficiency measures in a pulp mill in Timrå, Sweden, the regeneration and replanting of 68,000 ha of forest – almost three times the area of Stockholm – and the construction of 4 250 km of forest roads.

The project is expected to create more than 650 new jobs in the rural economy around the mill and will enable SCA to increase its production in an environmentally sustainable way to meet the growing demand for renewable forest products.

New, advanced process technologies will be installed at the pulp mill in Timrå, resulting in substantial energy efficiency gains. Additionally, the mill will be able to make use of renewable resources, like bark and by-products from the production process, for its energy generation, including both power and heat. As a result, the modernised pulp mill will not only be energy self-sufficient and increase its production capacity, but it will be able to export surplus (green) power. The mill’s carbon footprint will be smaller than that of any comparable mill in the world.

SCA’s forestry measures financed by the new EIB loan are expected to absorb over 44,000 additional tonnes of CO2 equivalents per year, corresponding to the CO2 emissions generated by 14,000 cars per year.

The pulp mill will start up in June 2018 once the modernisation project has been completed. The forestry project and the upgrade of the forest road network will be carried out over a period of five years from 2017 to 2021.

Södra to sell its Norwegian operation, Södra Wood AS, to German company Sörnsen Holzleisten. Handover is expected to take place on February 1, 2018.

The operation in Norway encompasses two production units (one in Brumunddal specialising in mouldings and one in Engesetdal in foil-wrapped MDF), two distribution terminals in Brumunddal and Namsos and a marketing organisation located in Gardemoen. A total of about 70 employees will be affected by the sale.

The buyer is Sörnsen Holzleisten, which was founded in 1945 and has several production sites in northern Germany, Estonia, Sweden and Lithuania. The company produces a broad range of mouldings; its standard range contains more than 3,000 items in various types of wood and it delivers to countries worldwide.

Interfor Corporation plans to invest $16.5 million to upgrade it’s sawmill in Meldrim, Georgia. The project is scheduled to be completed in December of 2018.

The project is focused on debottlenecking the back-end of the operation and includes the installation of one new continuous lumber drying kiln and upgrades to the planer mill.

Lumber production is expected to increase by 50% in addition to improving product quality and mill efficiency.

Interfor is a growth-oriented lumber company with operations in Canada and the United States. The Company has annual production capacity of 3 billion board feet.