The development programme for Metsä Board's white kraftliner mill in Kemi, Finland, has been completed. In addition to increasing the mill’s capacity by 40,000 tonnes per year, the development programme will reduce the mill's energy consumption by 5% and water consumption by around 40% per tonne produced.
Building permits for privately-owned housing in August saw a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.54 million, a 6.9% increase compared to the revised July rate of 1.44 million. However, this figure is still 2.7% below the rate recorded in August 2022,
In July, the value of roundwood purchased from Slovenian private owners decreased by more than a quarter in both monthly and annual comparison.
The new paper machine in Henderson, which is more than twice the length of a football field, will produce 1500 tons of 100% recycled paper every day.
Sweden's area notified for felling in August 2023 increased, compared to August 2022. However, regional variations are still large. The area regarding applications for permits for final felling in montane forests was only one-eighth of the same month last year.
The site will process 150,000 tonnes of recycled material per year, with potential for this to increase by 50% as the demand for wood based recycled material continues.
Daily port off-take has seen a slight reduction but remains within the normal range for this time of year.
This estimate was calculated based on a weighted response rate of 68.0%. The average final response rate for the survey over the previous 12 months has been 94.7%.
For the period January to July, the area of applications for the permits for final felling within montane forests have reached 9,725 hectares.
Overall housing starts increased 3.9% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.45 million units.
Swedish timber stocks amounted to 7.9 million cubic meters on 30 June 2023, which was 9% less than the same time last year. That is the lowest volume for this time of year since 2018.
However, when compared to the same month last year, there was a substantial decrease of -27.0% in total sales for the wood product sector.
In total, the new sawmill system can custom-cut and process 200m of timber per minute.
U.S. boxboard production in Q2 2023 decreased 11% compared to Q2 2022. The boxboard operating rate was 86.6%, down 7.6 points from Q2.
Logging residues accounted for nearly two-thirds of the energywood trade during Q2.
In May, sawmills managed to ship 4,158.2 thousand m3 of lumber.
In addition to the challenges in the timber harvesting and export sectors, the production of lumber in Russia also faced a decline in the first six months of 2023.
The construction industry's growth continues to strengthen, with the June 2023 spending level surging 3.5% higher than the June 2022 estimate of $1,873.2 billion.
The U.S. share surged by an impressive 15.0 percentage points, reaching 21% of Japan's total wood pellets imports in the first half of 2023.