“In two years there has been a dangerous increase in companies of panels industry that have closed their production capacity of 8-9 percent regarding particleboard and 6-7 percent Mdf, due to lack of raw material at competitive prices. This leads to less employment, lower production, lower exports of wood products outside the European Union and less international competitiveness of the entire furniture industry“.
So made his debut as the president of Assopannelli, the association of FederlegnoArredo gathering the manufacturers of wood panels and semi-finished products, Paolo Fantoni, fresh from meetings in Prague and the assembly of Assopannelli.
If you also add that the consumption of wood for energy will grow from 346 million cubic meters of 2010 to 573 million cubic meters in 2020 and could reach 752 million cubic meters in 2030, while the “traditional” wood consumption should be increasing at a moderate pace with an annual growth of 1,8 per cent, the picture becomes even more serious. The European Commission itself has acknowledged the existence of problems of supply of raw material for wood-based industries and the renewable biomass energy.
“Although additional wood availability is expected by improving forest management – the president adds − lack of wood for 200 million cubic meters by 2025 and 300 million cubic meters by 2030 are expected”.
That’s why FederlegnoArredo and Assopannelli recommended the European Commission the adoption of the principle of “Priority” and “Using a cascade of wood”, in order to promote the use, reuse, recycling and energy recovery of wood with binding national policy. President Fantoni has reaffirmed that in his meeting in Prague on the occasion of the meeting entitled “Opportunities and challenges for a more competitive European wood-furniture industry” organized by the European Economic and Social Committee – Consultative Commission on Industrial Change (Ccmi) at the Ministry of Industry and Trade of the Czech Republic. Still, FederlegnoArredo and Assopannelli support the elimination of the distortion of free market rules and incentives for energy production based on biomass, as well as the efficiency growth of biomass plants combining heat and power production.
Based on these premises Assopannelli defined a preliminary plan of action, already submitted to the Ministry of Agriculture and still under discussion on the tables of Italian and European, which is divided into five points.
