Panel board manufacturer EGGER has called for the planting of more trees to protect long term material supply across the UK.
According to EGGER, the UK Government has committed to planting 30,000 hectares of new woodland by 2024-25, but that these targets are not being met.
Now the wood panel industry, aligned with the forestry sector and other stakeholders, are continuing to advocate for the necessary investment to create a more self-sufficient productive timber supply. In particular, EGGER references a 2023 House of Commons Committee report which states that woodland cover would need to be expanded significantly in the UK in order to address predicted shortfalls in the supply of domestically-produced softwood timber.
As part of its sustainable operations, EGGER has a buying strategy that focuses on sourcing 90% of its wood supply from within 100 miles of its plants.
Sawmill by products, namely hackchips, sawdust and industrial roundwood, are used in EGGER’s chipboard production plants based in Northumberland and Ayrshire, alongside recycled wood, which is collected and sorted by its subsidiary company Timberpak.
Max McLaughlan, Head of Wood Purchasing and Forestry at EGGER (UK), said:“As a society we need wood, to build and furnish our homes, to package our goods, to write and print on, and in the UK, coniferous forests fulfil some of that need.”
He added: “At EGGER we use some of that timber to make useful and long lived products that can be recycled at the end of their use to keep the carbon locked up for decades. We all need wood, we should grow much more of it.”
The UK’s softwood timber supply is projected to fall behind demand, raising concerns about future timber security, according to EGGER. The UK grows less than one-fifth of the wood it uses, with around 80% of wood used in Britain for production purposes is imported. In fact, in 2021, Britain was the third largest net importer of wood in the world, EGGER explains.
Andrew Laidler, Sales Director, Decorative Products, for EGGER UK & Ireland, said: “The wood based panel industry is commercially and environmentally significant to the wider UK economy. With touch points across critically important commercial and consumer market sectors, it is an essential supply chain vital for economic success and environmental security for the country.”
“It is imperative that the government recognises the importance of supporting and improving productive timber planting targets, in order to maintain timber availability to important markets that simply could not exist without supply from the wood panel industry, which in turn could not survive without a reliable timber supply.”