Wood Paneling Demand Declines In U.S.

CLEVELAND, OH -- Demand for wood panels in the U.S. is expected to decline slightly more than one percent per annum through 2010 to 60.8 billion square feet, as measured on a 3/8-inch basis. Prospects for wood panels will be restrained by a softening in the single-family housing market from its 2005 level, when low mortgage interest rates helped to push the number of such housing starts to the highest level in more than two decades. Weakness in new housing will adversely affect wood panel demand in construction applications such as roof sheathing, wall sheathing and floor underlayment. Another restraining factor for wood panel use will be continuing competition from alternative materials such as plastics. These and other trends are presented in “Wood Panels,” a new study from The Freedonia Group, Inc., a Cleveland-based industry research firm.


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Freedonia Group, Inc.

Wood Panels study


The brightest prospects for wood panels will occur in smaller segments of the construction market, such as new nonresidential construction, nonresidential improvement and repair, and residential improvement and repair. Wood panel demand in the first of those markets will see annual growth of nearly five percent through 2010, buoyed by a rebound in construction of nonresidential buildings. Nonetheless, new nonresidential construction will still account for under five percent of total demand for wood panels. Residential improvement and repair is the largest of the three faster-growing construction segments, representing over one-sixth of overall wood panel demand.

While volume demand for structural panels is projected to fall through 2010, nonstructural panels will eke out marginal increases. The brighter outlook for the manufacturing market will support demand for nonstructural panels, which have relatively higher use in manufacturing applications. Among the various nonstructural panel products, hardwood plywood and medium density fiberboard (MDF) will enjoy the best opportunities through 2010. Each product will benefit from demand in the furniture market. Although shipments of wood furniture from the U.S. are expected to decline, production from U.S. producers will increasingly be focused on products tailored to higher-end markets, which will benefit hardwood plywood and MDF at the expense of particleboard.