Arrival of Pine logs in Plywood manufacturing facilities for peeling core veneer has emerged as a survivor for this sector. Report says that after successful results from Kandla based Plywood units, it has reached North India Plywood units in June- July month.
The Indian Plywood Industry has been struggling due to high prices of plantation timber and it has reported that timber (Poplar and Eucalyptus) prices have reached an alltime high in 2024. A number of North India based plywood units are reported to shut their production or reduce the capacity utilization due to high timber cost. In this situation Pine wood has become a survivor for the plywood sector.
Mr Samir Garg, MD, SRG Plywood articulated that earlier very few people would use pine logs in plywood manufacturing but nowadays it has been reported that at least 60-70 cubic metres per month of pine is being used in plywood due to which price of domestic timber has gone down a bit.
Mr Girdhar Vidhani asserts, “I have been in the business of peeling the pine for over 20 years and I have realised the pine core has less shrinkage and compression loss and if it is used with glue line then plywood does not sustain any warping issues, an 18mm plywood weighs around 28 kg but unfortunately people are afraid of change and breaking the convention of using eucalyptus and poplar but recently it has been observed that pine logs are being dispatched in great number as far as up north”.
As per report, Pine logs have reached to Plywood manufacturing units located in Delhi-NCR, Yamunanagar, UP and Punjab. Users industry view that it helps to check the rising prices of Poplar logs and its availability supports the shortage of timber to the Industry. Industry people relaxed with the increasing supply of Pine wood for Peeling Core Veneer and said that it is lighter weight timber but they get better yield and match with present prices of plantation timber.