Wood alternatives...
Are more manufacturers adding agrifiber to their diets?
By Anna Thibodeaux
Solid wood alternatives read like a high-fiber diet with stuff once considered agricultural waste like wheat straw, rice straw, sugar cane fiber and barley straw, but it’s a healthy, growing business in an increasingly fiber-conscious market.
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| Straw stored at Pacific Northwest Fiber to preserve the fiber. |
Aided by special resins, these alternatives are compressed into such products as particleboard and medium-density fiberboard (MDF) panels. It’s then sold to manufacturers who machine it into kitchen cabinets, countertops, ready-to-assemble furniture, case goods and more as the product improves.
The Composite Panel Association, with its 196 Canadian and U.S. members that make or sell agrifiber-based particleboard and MDF, reports continued strong demand for both products combined, showing a 7.9 percent jump in total shipments in 1999 over the previous year.
In hard figures, producers shipped 8.35 billion square feet (three-fourth inch basis) of board in 1999, up from 7.74 bsf of board in 1998 in the U.S. and Canada.
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| Completed production awaiting shipment. |
U.S. and Canadian producers also dominate the market, according to the CPA. They accounted for 87.2 percent of all 1999 particleboard shipments and at 86 percent in fiberboard.
CPA Public Relations Director Rachel Maleh foresees continued growth as the products become more accessible.
“We’re seeing a lot of increases in high-end furniture, cabinets and especially laminate flooring,” says Maleh of MDF. It’s also making its way into doors and home office furniture, which is a big trend. “The products have improved over the last fifteen years. As they go into more and more homes, I think people will be requesting them.”
Everyone from builders to designers is already seeking MDF, Maleh says. They like its versatility, strength, ability to take a lot of different colors and patterns, ability to mimic wood, easy maintenance and scratch resistance.
In Alberta, Canada, Panel Source International markets solid wood alternatives made of “urban waste fiber” - wheat straw, rice straw, sugar cane fiber and barley, says company Vice President Brian McLeod. Mills make them into particleboard and MDF, depending on the site, company and nature of the fiber.
The company sells about 100 million square feet (three-quarter inch basis) board a year. But McLeod anticipates that figure will steadily rise to 500 million square feet by the year 2005. Ninety-five percent of current sales are in the U.S. with the rest in Canada, Mexico and Japan.
“It’s been a revolution in reverse with the end-customer saying, ‘Here’s what I want,’ instead of the producer driving the process,” he says. Historically, it’s been the other way around.
McLeod says two forces are driving demand:
• A positive environmental message. These products are “tree free,” formaldehyde free and recycle a renewable resource that was burned as waste.
• Stronger, more durable product. These fibers are bonded with a resin that’s stronger and more moisture resistant, producing panels that generally have lower density and are lighter than wood.
Panel Process International’s biggest customers are makers of kitchen cabinets and countertops, ready-to-assemble furniture, retail markets like Lowe’s and Home Depot, office furniture makers and store fixtures.
McLeod foresees, in the next big development, agrifiber panel mills making replacements for plywood and oriented strand board.
Some of these panels cost the same as wood particleboard and MDF, which McLeod says he considered a pleasant surprise when he first got into the business.
Initially, some of the mills had problems with the panels flowing through their wood-oriented machinery because of varying densities, but he says they’ve worked out those problems by changing equipment speed and/or weight. Product modifications also helped improve the panels.
At Isobord Inc.’s Atlanta regional office, Richard Chunta predicts a 30 to 35 percent increase in revenue over last year. It had anticipated 20 percent annual growth.
Industry-wide, Chunta predicts booming growth in three to four years. He also predicts structural panels as a new growth area for his product as the technology becomes available.
“We’re just priming the tap,” he says of the more versatile MDF. “It’s going to be explosive.”
After launching its StrawBoard panels two years ago, the company is seeing fierce pricing competition from wood-based companies, which Chunta says is no secret. Who wins the price war will rely on whether consumers’ pocketbooks are willing to cover up to 10 percent more for an environmentally friendly product, he adds.
Agrifiber requires use of a costly resin, which makes the panels lighter, more moisture resistant and stronger without the use of formaldehyde, he explains.
“The market is responding to the environmentally-friendly product, but at the end of the day you still have to remain competitive,” Chunta states.
Despite stiffer competition, he says sales are rising daily; new products are being distributed through retailers like Home Depot and Lowe’s.
Industrywide, however, numerous other agrifiber companies have gone under. Chunta says they didn’t find a niche and relied on other companies for marketing, unlike Isobord, which skipped the middleman.
“Ultimately,” he says, “I see these companies surviving and thriving because the market will reward them for their environmental responsibility, as well as providing a product more versatile than wood panels.”
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