timbernews
A magazine for SCA’s solid wood products customers | www.scatimber.com
Vital timber wholesaler
in Spain
SCA INVESTS BILLIONS
IN A PULP FACTORY
VTI IN DENMARK
EXPERTS IN GLUED
WOOD
3
2015
SCA has faith in the
future of the forest
Photo: Mats Wigardt
t the end of August SCA’s board decided to invest over EUR 800 million in expanding its Östrand pulp
mill,one of the biggest industrial investments in Sweden ever. The move will see
Östrand become the most efficient and
cost-leading manufacturer of bleached
softwood kraft pulp in the world.
SCA IS EUROPE’S LARGEST private
Manolo and Adolfo de la Fuente
successful timber wholesaler in Spain.
forest owner and SCA’s board sees that a
competitive industry is what gives the
forest its value. With proper investment
and efficiency, the industry is capable of
getting the most potential of the forest and
ensuring that it remains a valuable asset
for many years to come.
CONTENTS
Huge investment in
SCA’s Östrand pulp mill
BUT THERE IS A NEED to develop the
THIS INVESTMENT has not come out of
Growing demand for
North Swedish pine
4
the blue. SCA has invested EUR 1.6 billion in its forest industry over the past
decade. That’s over EUR 400,000 a day,
SCA’s component plant
on stable footing
6
Scandinavian pine becomes
children’s furniture
in the IKEA home
7
The Danish wood industry
has the wind in its sails
8
10
Pine under your feet
11
New start for SCA Timber in Spain12
Movers and shakers
15
The forest’s black gold
16
TimberNews SCA Forest Products AB
SE-851 88 Sundsvall, tel +46 60 19 30 00
www.scatimber.com
Timber News is published four times a year
Editor-in-chief Björn Lyngfelt
Production KarMin kommunikation
Repro & printing Åtta.45 Tryckeri AB, Sundsvall
Subscribe to Timber News, please
contact ingrid.lofqvist@sca.com
Feel free to quote us, but please
name us as your source.
Photo: Per-Anders Sjöquist
3
Old pine keeps the rot at bay
every day for ten years. A large proportion
of that has been invested in SCA’s five sawmills. At the moment, EUR 53 million is
being invested in the new saw line which
will take Tunadal sawmill into the European elite on production efficiency. In
other words, this takes them from languishing at the bottom of the first division
up to the premier league. A modern industry, flush with investment, can manufacture the products customers need at a competitive cost. New, modern technology
enables the company to produce new
products and to break new ground in
developing the chain from the forest to our
customers’ customers.
whole value chain. The sawmills need an
effective fibre industry capable of using the
by-products of production. Only about
half of the log can be turned into solidwood products even though we are working hard to improve the raw material yield.
About a third of the log becomes pulp
chips and the part that cannot be used for
solid-wood products is also used as raw
material for pulp. It is important for the
sawmills, and so for the sawmills’ customers too, that there is an efficient paper and
pulp industry. An industry capable of using
the by-products that the sawmills produce
and of bearing its proportion of the costs
of responsible and long-term forestry.
SCA has shown, in an extremely tangible way, that we have faith in the future of
our forest industry.
Ulf Larsson
President SCA Forest Products
SCA TIMBER is one of Europe’s leading manufacturers of wood-based products,
with an annual production of 2.1 million cubic metres. The product range is
supplemented with service and distribution solutions for customers in the wood
industry and builders’ merchant sector.
SCA Timber is part of SCA’s Forest Products business unit, which produces
publication papers for newspapers, magazines and catalogues, as well as
paper for packaging, solid wood products, pulp and renewable energy.
SCA Forest Products also manages SCA’s extensive forest holding and supplies
SCA’s Swedish industries with wood raw materials, in addition to offering
cost-efficient transport solutions to SCA’s units.
timbernews | 2
Huge investment in
SCA’s Östrand pulp mill
In order to meet the growing demand for pulp, SCA has decided to invest in increased
production capacity at Östrand pulp mill in Timrå, Sweden.
The investment will add up to more than EUR 800 million over a three-year period.
This is one of the largest industrial investments Sweden has ever seen.
THE INVESTMENT will involve SCA build-
ing an almost entirely new pulp mill, which
will have the largest production line for
bleached softwood kraft pulp in the world.
There are larger pulp mills, but they manufacture hardwood pulp and mixed pulp.
Once the expansion of Östrand is completed in 2018, the annual production
capacity for bleached kraft pulp will rise
from the current figure of approximately
430,000 tonnes to around 900,000 tonnes.
THE EXPANDED MILL will require around
4.5 million cubic metres of wood, twice as
much as today.
The majority of that wood will continue to
be sourced from SCA’s own large forest
holdings and via purchases from private
forest owners in the region. SCA also
works with other forest companies and
forest owners’ associations on the supply
of raw material. In addition, there is likely
to be a marginal increase in imports from
3 | timbernews
the Baltic states, where SCA already has a
wood procurement company.
The expansion will give SCA a highly
competitive plant in terms of cost and
quality, which should help to strengthen
its position in the core market.
“Over time, the investment in Östrand
will increase sales and competitiveness
and create a world-class cost position and
higher margins,” states Magnus Groth,
President and CEO of SCA.
EUROPE IS CURRENTLY Östrand’s core
market, and that will continue to be the
case.
Photo: Kontrast Foto
SCA enhances its organisation
SCA IS A global hygiene and forest industry company, with around 85 percent of sales deriving from
the hygiene business. To further increase the focus on the Group’s two operations, SCA has decided
to begin dividing the Group into two divisions, a Hygiene division and a Forest Products division.
The Forest Products division will encompass all forest industry operations and all forest land
currently owned by SCA. The work to bring all these elements under the same umbrella will begin
immediately. There are significant synergies between the forest industry and the ownership of
forest land. SCA’s forest products operation has a well integrated value chain with production
facilities concentrated in northern Sweden, in close proximity to its forest holdings.
“A cohesive forest products operation in a single division further highlights the value created
and optimises synergies between the forest industry and ownership of forest land,” comments
Magnus Groth.
Photo: Per-Anders Sjöquist
Growing demand for North
Swedish pine
‘The Swedish monster’ is how one German industry magazine described the new drying kiln at Bollsta sawmill.
Sweden’s largest sawmill has noted growing demand for sawn and finished Norrland pine. At the same time, there are rising demands in the
value chain concerning quality, deliveries and collaborative capabilities.
“This poses a positive challenge,” says Business Manager Erik
Elmkvist at Bollsta sawmill. “We are continuing to develop as our
customers develop.”
cubic metres, referred to by one German industry magazine as ‘the Swedish monster’.
Other measures include investments in the trimming
and treatment lines, a new saw infeed for optimum saw
yields, a new timber sorting line, improvements to the
saw line and a larger number of bins on the sorting
line.
fter several years of major investment, Bollsta sawmill is more than ready to meet high expectations.
As the largest sawmill in Sweden, the plant produces
560,000 cubic metres of sawn pine products, of which
100,000 cubic metres undergoes further finishing.
“But we need to be able to show the benefits of the
investments that have been made,” says Erik Elmkvist.
“We’re not running a commercial showpiece here. We
have to keep up with the market and society’s demands
and expectations at all times.”
HOWEVER, IT’S THE INVESTMENT in new equipment to
THE INVESTMENTS in Bollsta sawmill include a new
biomass boiler that makes the sawmill self-sufficient in
energy. This has cut oil consumption by 3,400 cubic
metres per year and almost entirely eliminated emissions of carbon dioxide.
Other investments include six new batch kilns plus
a cross-circulation kiln with a capacity of 100,000
sort logs using x-rays that has attracted the greatest
attention.
“At the sorting stage we can now steer the right log
to the right product, ensuring consistent and high quality,” explains Erik Elmkvist. “This allows us to better
exploit the benefits of the North Swedish pine.”
The example he gives is that it is now easier to meet
the growing demand for heartwood products for end
uses such as window blanks. The new technology
allows logs to be sorted according to customer preferences, while also cutting waste and rejections. ‘Customisation’ isn’t just a marketing term, you can see it
happening before your eyes.
“Although the dimension is the same, customer
requirements can vary depending on the specific end
product,” says Erik Elmkvist. “Different log types are
sorted into different bins according to whether the
timbernews | 4
heartwood is wanted, or it is going to be used for
glulam, cladding or other product.”
THE INVESTMENTS have produced good results,
according to Elmkvist. In addition to reduced costs,
dialogue with the customer has been intensified and
long-term collaboration has improved. The dialogue
between sawmill and seller has also been streamlined.
“We’re not running a commercial show-
piece here. We have to keep up with the market and society’s demands and expectations at all times.”
ERIK ELMKVIST
The new technology makes it easier to meet the growing
demand for heartwood products, for example.
“The rise in eco-awareness also plays into our
hands,” says Erik Elmkvist. “For example, we can now
produce pine for exterior cladding and roofing that
doesn’t need any treatment.”
And there are already dreams of continued development, with even greater precision. Erik Elmkvist mentions the possibility of adapting the settings on the log
sorting line according to where the trees were grown.
In time, it might be possible to manage the forest more
according to the customer’s needs.
“It used to be that you picked trees according to
what they were going to be used for, whether it was
flooring or windows,” he says. “It would be exciting to
take things in that direction using modern technology.”
Mats Wigardt
5 | timbernews
From left: Staffan Grankvist, manager of the
component factory in Munksund, with planner Tomas Markström and operators Fredrik
Lundström and Mia Renberg.
Photo: Per-Anders Sjöquist
TODAY, THE PLANT IN MUNKSUND produces
SCA’s component plant
on stable footing
When SCA invested almost EUR 10 million in a new component plant next to
the pine sawmill in Munksund, Staffan Grankvist could only shake his head in
disbelief. But today all those doubts have been blown away.
“They were perhaps rather ahead of their time,” he asserts.
S
CA’s component plant in Munksund
opened in 2008 as Scandinavia’s largest finishing factory for window blanks,
with a capacity of 30,000 cubic metres, or 5
million running metres.
All the latest technology allowed specially selected and sawn North Swedish pine
to be scanned, cut, planed, finger-jointed
and glued into six-metre lengths of laminated wood and then delivered to window
manufacturers in Scandinavia, particularly
Denmark.
PRODUCTION MANAGER Staffan
Grankvist admits that he greeted the investment in Munksund with some scepticism.
Back then, he was rather out of the loop –
working on jobs for another employer – and
thought the time was not right to begin finishing sawn pine on a large scale.
“Producing blanks for the window
industry is like entering Formula 1 in terms
of quality demands,” he states.
But with everything now in place, Staffan Grankvist – who has been working at
Munksund for the past year – has nothing
but praise for the decision.
“They had the right idea, and they implemented it very early on. Now demand is
rising, the plant is running smoothly and
the figures are all nicely in the black,” he is
pleased to report.
Staffan highlights the tough demands
now being placed on wood for windows in
Denmark: up to 90 percent heartwood with
a close grain. This specification has also
sparked interest in the rest of Scandinavia.
“And we have the raw material up here in
the north, as well as the technology to finish
it, which is the linchpin for the whole enterprise,” he says.
around 2 million running metres of
window blanks for the wood processing
industry.
However, that volume is not enough to
fill the plant’s capacity, which is why two
other streams have also been established,
adding up to more or less the same volume
as the products for the window industry.
One is finger-jointed blanks of custom
lengths for major furniture manufacturers.
“Pine furniture is in growing demand,”
says Staffan. “Greater eco-awareness
means that consumers are increasingly
choosing solid wood over wood panels.”
The second stream is glued and jointed
interior cladding in custom lengths for
builder’s merchants.
“With almost invisible joints, not even
the most exacting customer will be disappointed with the end result,” asserts Staffan Grankvist.
WITH THREE STEADY LEGS to stand on, the
component plant in Munksund has every
reason to be confident about the future.
The raw material is readily available across
Norrland, with its close grain and fine
knots. Demand is steadily rising and SCA
has consolidated its position as a supplier.
“The ambition is to work with our customers to continue growing in the segment
of finger-jointed inputs in pine,” says Staffan.
Mats Wigardt
Photo: Per-Anders Sjöquist
BUT
Finger-jointed blanks in custom lengths form one of the strong legs supporting the component
factory in Munksund.
timbernews | 6
Scandinavian pine
becomes children’s
furniture in the
IKEA home
Demand for solid pine furniture is
rising steadily. For Avoti SWF in Latvia,
this means new investments and
well stocked order books.
“We’re IKEA’s largest external supplier of pine furniture,” says Managing
Director Uldis Misins.
n the space of 20 years, the family business
Avoti SWF in the village of Lizums, about
a two-hour drive north-east of Riga, has
grown from a single sawmill to become the
largest manufacturer of furniture in Latvia.
Managing Director Uldis Misins gives a
hearty laugh as he explains how it all started.
“During the Soviet era I wanted to build
a house for my family but there were no
materials to buy. Instead I was shown to an
area of forest where I was allowed to fell the
timber I needed myself.”
Uldis and his wife bought a saw and a
small tractor and set to work on their house
project. They enjoyed the work and a few
years later they bought some woodland and
started their own sawmill.
And that’s how it’s been ever since. In the
first few years they mainly produced construction timber for export to Germany.
Today they have entirely switched to making
furniture from Scandinavian pine.
“We’ve developed step by step, with
better machinery, new products and bigger
premises,” says Uldis Misins, whose com-
pany today employs
about 315 people and
has a turnover of just
over EUR 30 million.
THE RAW MATERIAL is
nothing but top end logs
from pine grown in
northern Scandinavia, a
total of approximately
60,000 cubic metres a
year. 45 percent comes
from Finland, 26 percent from Latvian suppliers and about 13 percent is supplied from
Swedish sawmills, including SCA’s sawmill
in Munksund.
“Avoti is a good and
reliable customer with a bright future ahead
of them and we’re keen to expand our partnership with them,” says Ville Liimola at
SCA Timber Europe.
THE RELATIONSHIP between Avoti and
IKEA began in 1998 with Avoti manufacturing simple slatted bed bases. One lorry a
month soon turned into three lorries a week.
Uldis Misins remembers how it all started:
“I knew that IKEA were visiting a factory
nearby. I went there and sat down to wait by
the entrance. When the visitors came out I said
I had a factory and I wanted to work with
them. ‘OK’ they said. ‘We’ll come and have a
look tomorrow.’ Which they did, and they
Almost 90 percent of Avoti’s production goes
to IKEA.
were clearly pleased with what they saw.”
The partnership then developed from
simple storage shelving to finger-jointed
glulam and solid wood children’s furniture.
Beds, shelves, tables, boxes, chests of drawers...
Precisely how many units we’re talking
about a year is hard to say but it certainly
runs into millions.
ALMOST 90 PERCENT of Avoti’s produc-
tion goes to IKEA’s warehouses and stores in
Europe, Asia or North America. The fact that
they are a customer with high demands in
terms of quality and logistics is no secret, but
Uldis Misins says he’d be delighted to continue developing his relationship with IKEA.
“We know what they want and we have
the potential to grow,” he asserts.
IN THE FACTORY, which covers 24,000
The family business Avoti SWF in Latvia makes pine furniture. Here is the company’s Managing
Director Uldis Misins, on the right, with his son Janis.
75 | timbernews
square metres, the pace is hectic. Hundreds
of thousands of pieces have to be sawn,
sanded, drilled, checked, packed and sometimes surface treated too. The waste is turned
into briquettes which are sold to Germany.
In the warehouse fully-loaded pallets of
flat packed Sundvik wardrobes and Trofast
frames await collection and loading where
soon they will be unpacked and put together
in a child’s room somewhere in the world.
Text and photo: Mats Wigardt
THE DANISH WOOD INDUSTRY
HAS THE WIND IN ITS SAILS
When Flemming Nielsen in Vinderup, Denmark, started his little carpentry business
he was aiming for a handful of employees. Today, 40 years later, the company has a
turnover of EUR 26 million and produces edge glued panels and laminated window
and door components equivalent to 90,000 cubic metres of raw material.
“The raw material is all Scandinavian pine,” says Flemming Nielsen.
Today Flemming Nielsen’s company VTI is
one of Europe’s largest manufacturers of
glulam.
he step from his dad’s old barn where Flemming Nielsen started his company
in 1976 to the modern production plant of
today, outside Vinderup in central Jutland,
is something of a leap.
Flemming was only 20 and trained as a
carpenter. The plan was for him to build
houses, on a small scale. But after a few
years he started to produce edge glued
panels to make furniture. A smart decision,
as it turned out.
Since then Vinderups Træindustri, VTI,
has grown by leaps and bounds. After a few
years, the production space spanned 1,100
square metres. Expansion continued
throughout the 1990s and at the turn of the
millennium the company opened a new factory covering 18,000 square metres, which
has already been expanded in turn to 22,
500 square metres. Today Vinderups Træindustri is one of Europe’s largest manufacturers of edge glued panels and laminated
window and door components.
“All the numbers are heading upwards:
turnover, results, equity and equity ratio.
With a clear conscience we can say that we
know how to glue wood, that’s where our
expertise lies,” says Flemming Nielsen, who
has now handed over the reins as Managing
Director and responsibility for purchasing to take up a position as Chairman of
the board instead.
OVER THE PAST FEW YEARS, VTI has passed
Sound knowledge, modern machinery and
the right inputs are some of VTI’s success
factors.
many important mileposts: a new raw material warehouse, a focus on exports, which
rose from zero to EUR 8.5 million in the
space of three years, a royal visit, an award,
new product groups and FSC certification.
“But we continue to only be manufacturers,”Flemming Nielsen explains. “You
can’t be good at everything.”
VTI HAS SURVIVED THE FURNITURE CRISIS
and the financial crises despite a few tough
years, with major drops in turnover and
profit at times.
VTI has survived because the business has
always kept its overheads in mind, emphasises Flemming Nielsen. Constant development, sound knowledge, modern machinery,
the right inputs, with less waste and high
productivity per employee, make the difference between success and disaster in his
book.
“Another important reason is that we are
over 90 percent family owned,” Flemming
Nielsen points out. “This makes the company flexible and easy to manoeuvre even
when the wind is against us.”
TODAY VTI rests on three stable pillars.
Besides the original edge glued panels for furniture, they also produce edge glued timberboards for building material distributors and
glued window components, the majority of
which are finger-jointed.
“In terms of turnover, window components are our biggest product these days,
with edge glued panels for furniture in a
good second place,” says Flemming Nielsen.
In the damp Danish climate the raw
material for windows has to meet stringent
demands. National regulations require a 70
percent proportion of heartwood in timber
to be used for windows.
THE RAW MATERIAL is slow-grown pine
from northern Sweden or Finland, which is
of higher quality than Polish and other European pine. VTI works in close collaboration
with the sawmills to obtain inputs that are
of the right quality and the right dimension
and can be incorporated immediately into
production without waste.
The collaborative relationship between
VTI and SCA is a long-standing one. In the
timbernews | 8
All the numbers are heading “
upwards: turnover, results, equity and equity ratio. With
a clear conscience we can
say that we know how to
glue wood, that’s where our expertise lies.”
FLEMMING NIELSEN
beginning deliveries came from SCA’s sawmill in Munksund and over the past three to
four years these have been supplemented by
pine from Bollsta sawmill.
“And the volumes are increasing strongly,”
says Flemming Nielsen, who would be keen
to receive larger volumes of window timber
from SCA for the factory in Vinderup.
He harbours no doubts about the company’s ability to develop further. With an
The Danish company produces glulam for furniture, door and window manufacture and
the DIY market.
equity ratio of almost 40 percent, there is
scope for new investment.
The latest addition to the product catalogue is heat-treated laminated components for windows.
“A SOUND, energy-saving product with
good insulation that doesn’t need to be
treated and will last for 30 years,” says
Flemming Nielsen. “At the moment it’s an
expensive niche product but it’s a product
we believe in.
“And,” he adds, “we would welcome an
extended strategic collaboration with SCA
on development, quality and new products.”
VTI works with slow-grown Scandinavian pine.
9 | timbernews
Text and photo: Mats Wigardt
FACTS
• Vinderup Træindustri A/S produces glulam for
furniture, the DIY market and door and window
manufacture. Today VTI is one of Europe’s largest
manufacturers of glulam.
• The company was founded in 1976 by Flemming
Nielsen.
• Anticipated production for 2015 is 90,000 cubic
metres.
• There are over 100 employees in production
and an additional 25 office staff.
• The goal up to 2020 is for the same high growth
as in the past two years.
Photo: Clements Photography
In Alvdal, Norway, heartwood pine from SCA is turned
into treated cladding for building projects that
demand high standards of durability. And demand is
rising, according to Roar Voll, CEO of Alvdal Skurlag.
“Customers have become more discerning in
their choice of materials, he states.
The church in Knarvik outside Narvik, with cladding from Alvdal Skurlag.
OLD PINE KEEPS THE ROT AT BAY
products required by the customer, such as
vertical and horizontal cladding, duckboards, roofing and structural timber and
components.
They also sell a range by the name of
Malmfura, or ‘the optimum eco-alternative’
as the company’s brochure puts it.
“Durable, completely free from heavy
metals, and made from almost 100 percent
heartwood,” according to Roar Voll.
IT ALL MARKS a kind of renaissance for
knowledge that was lost with the advent of
industrialisation, when heartwood, as a way
of avoiding rot and mould, was replaced
with large-scale chemical treatment.
“When there was no longer time to sort
logs according to area of use, the natural protective properties of the wood were forgotten,” says Roar.
It was when interest in renovating old
Photo: Alvdal Skurlag
lvdal Skurlag celebrates its 60th anni
versary this year. The company was
founded in 1955 as a cooperative sawmill
aimed at ensuring a market for wood from
local forest owners.
Now it is a limited company, with Alvdal
Municipality and the local forest owners’
association as the two biggest stakeholders.
In 2010, the saw line was shut down and the
focus shifted to producing specialist products for builder’s merchants and the construction industry.
“It was a tough decision,” says CEO
Roar Voll, “but the volumes we were sawing
were too small for us to seriously compete
with the big sawmills.”
Now they produce standard products
and a range of specialist products. And
although spruce has traditionally dominated the Norwegian market, here they use
up to 90 percent rot-resistant pine – 80 percent of which comes from Sweden.
“Norwegian sawmills focus on their
own finishing and lack the equipment to
sort out large volumes of the wood we
want,” explains Roar Voll. “Production is
more customer-driven in Sweden.”
THE MODERN finishing plant just outside
this small community, 100 km or so south
of Röros, planes, finger-joints, precision cuts
and treats the Swedish pine to create the
A Norwegian cottage with heartwood cladding treated with an iron sulphate solution.
timbernews | 10
houses increased that people once again
began asking for quality logs with a high
proportion of heartwood. Siberian larch,
with the same protective properties as
heartwood pine, was one alternative.
A little later, attention turned to the Norwegian valleys, where knowledge of how to
choose the right logs lived on and where
sufficient volumes of slow-grown pine
could be found to meet demand.
As private individuals and architects
realised the positive properties of maintenance-free heartwood pine, demand rose
and Alvdal Skurlag began increasing the
focus on its Malmfura pine range.
PINE under your feet
Since 1989, 25 million people have visited the Vasa Museum in Stockholm.
You need a floor that can stand the pace. The choice therefore was a pine
floor from Lapland, manufactured in Sorsele.
SCA’s sawmill in Bollsta had the technology
and the knowledge to sort, saw and dry the
right logs from the huge amount of wood
that passed through.
“It’s a growing segment,” reports LarsIvar Eriksson, SCA’s Sales Manager for Mill
Sales Scandinavia. “We currently ship off
around 4,000 cubic metres, or one lorryload a week, from Bollsta to Alvdal.”
According to Roar Voll, Malmfura is
used for cladding on more and more construction projects, from summer cottages
and houses to multi-storey buildings. One
order was used to renovate snow tunnels
along the Malmbanan railway line, while
another went to a new church in Bergen.
“It’s an important product for us,” he
says. “And we need a stable supplier that
can adapt its production to our requirements.”
Photo: Alvdal Skurlag
Mats Wigardt
Photo: Patrick Degerman
AND SWEDEN had the perfect raw material.
CLOSE-GRAINED LAPLAND PINE
has always been the livelihood of the
Abrahamsson family in Sorsele. For generation after generation the family have
worked the hardy wood that slowly
grows just outside their door.
Baseco started in 1983, and since 1993
the company has been run by the father,
mother and three sons of the Abrahamsson family. Wide, high-quality, flooring has always formed the foundation of
their business.
“Solid pine floors are what we work
with ideally,” says Daniel Abrahamsson,
in charge of purchasing raw materials.
ALTHOUGH TODAY the range has expand-
Cladding from Alvdal Skurlag on student
housing in Ås outside Oslo.
FACTS
HEARTWOOD, which is taken from old, slow-growing
pines, makes up the innermost part of the trunk and
has cells packed with tar and resin. This makes the
wood not only hard and durable, but also exceptionally resistant to moisture and attack from moulds
and pests. Sweden and Norway have churches over
1,000 years old that were made from heartwood
and remain intact to this day.
11 | timbernews
ed to also include wall cladding and cottages, it is nevertheless the broad floorboards that have earned the company a
reputation outside Sweden’s borders.
Besides Sweden, they now have customers
in Norway, Denmark and Japan.
“Since my brothers and I joined the company, continued product development in
all segments has led to us doubling our
turnover,” says Daniel Abrahamsson.
SEVERAL WEIGHTY prestige projects,
such as the Vasa Museum, Drottningholm
Palace and Millesgården on Lidingö have
helped to boost the brand and blaze a trail
for the products of the Sorsele company.
Every year around 250,000 square
metres of flooring is produced and a million running metres of cladding. The raw
material, about 12,000 cubic metres of it,
is sawn and furniture-dry pine supplied
by sawmills in Norrland, about half from
SCA’s sawmills in Munksund and Bollsta.
“We use almost only top end logs and
second logs with light knots,” says Daniel
Abrahamsson. Lower down the log, the
knots become too dark.
WHAT BASECO PRODUCES is an exclu-
sive flooring product with high requirements for dry raw material of even quality. “Heartwood pine with light knots,”
Daniel Abrahamsson sums up the company’s specification of requirements.
“We want to be the best, so we also
need to have the best raw material,” he
explains. “Quality lasts.”
And even if the company also now
sells oak and ash flooring, pine is still
where the heart of the business lies. Wherever you look, it’s standing there, closegrained and hardened by the darkness
and the cold winters.
“We know our pine and are expanding
as much as we can as quickly as we can,”
says Daniel Abrahamsson.
Mats Wigardt
NEW
START FOR SCA TIMBER IN SPAIN
Santander isn’t just the name of one of the world’s biggest banks and a football team in the Spanish league. It was also in the city of Santander in northern
Spain that the family-owned wood wholesaler Marino De La Fuente was
founded in 1946. The relationship with Sweden and SCA is rock solid.
antander is a flourishing port and the capi-
tal of the Spanish province of Cantabria.
This was the place an enterprising young
man, Marino de la Fuente, ended up just
after the Civil War. He had left the lacerated
landscape on the Castilian plains to start a
new life on the coast in Santander. Marino
de la Fuente quickly got a job in the wood
industry and after just two years he started
his own company and began to import
timber and railway sleepers to Spain.
THE YEARS WENT BY, the company grew and
his three sons Manolo, Adolfo and Ricardo
were trained in the business early on. After
school the working day continued in dad’s
timber warehouse. Bringing in an external
partner was never an issue, the company
grew on nothing but its own capital. The
company was, is and will remain a purely
family business.
Sweden and Swedish sawmills came into
the picture early on too.“I did work experi-
ence in Sweden, at Graningeverken and Bollsta sawmill in the 1960s,” remembers eldest
son Manolo. For a period we were the sawmill’s biggest customer and have maintained
that relationship since SCA took over.
Since 1979 it has been the sons who have
been continuing their father’s legacy. There
are now two independent companies based
in Santander, with additional operations in
Seville and in Valladolid outside Madrid.
“We have the same set-up in all our locations with a wide range of timber, fittings,
tools and kitchen interiors,” explains middle
brother Adolfo, who shares time and responsibility for Valladolid and Seville with little
brother Ricardo.
TODAY MARINO DE LA FUENTE is one of
Spain’s leading timber wholesalers with their
own lorries, a covered warehouse spanning
more than 40,000 square metres, importing
wood and panels from the whole world and
with 35 different types of wood in stock.
Over the years the company has developed
with investments in a planing mill, treatment, processing wood panels and selling
DIY materials.
“And fortunately both us and our company are in good health, despite the serious
crisis that Spain has suffered,” says Manolo
de la Fuente, leaning back in the chair behind
the desk in Santander where his father Marino’s portrait takes pride of place.
AFTER SEVERAL YEARS of a building boom
in Spain, the crash came in 2007 with a merciless cull of companies active in the construction sector, from major timber dealers
and cement factories to small local carpenters.
The crisis left the whole country hard hit,
with abandoned construction projects, falling property prices, sky-high unemployment
and a worryingly shaky banking system. 40
percent of all actors in the construction
industry were forced to close down.
Marino De La Fuente was affected too.
Turnover halved, a planned expansion was
postponed, imports plummeted. One example: before the crisis the company sold 6,000
cubic metres of solid wood beams, and now
that figure is 300 cubic metres.
But the company survived and the light
timbernews | 12
Marino De La Fuente is one of Spain’s biggest timber wholesalers. The company also does
planing, treatment and panel processing.
can now be seen at the end of the tunnel. The
reason, according to the brothers themselves,
is their strong financial position with no
loans to repay during the crisis. “Prudent,
professional and well-run” as the company’s
policy sums it up.
“We could choose to invest in renovating
our lorry fleet and the production lines
instead of paying off high loans,” Adolfo de
la Fuente explains. “Today we have plans to
set up new businesses in other parts of Spain.”
THE WORST CRISIS for the Spanish con-
struction sector is now thought to be over.
This year around 50,000 homes are expected
to be completed, a massive slump compared
*
Manolo de la Fuente, on
the far left and Adolfo de
la Fuente on the far right.
Here with Raffaele Parlato,
Head of SCA Timber
Europe.
13 | timbernews
with previous levels but still a positive sign.
The proportion of empty homes in Spain
has also fallen, largely thanks to major price
cuts and attractive offers. And if the tourist
season goes well, willingness to invest will
increase, bringing continued renovation
work in the hotels and private villas of the
south coast.
“That’s another aspect that steers demand
for timber and board material,” says Raffaele
Parlato, head of SCA Timber Europe with
responsibility for recovering SCA’s market
position in Spain.
UP UNTIL THE EARLY 1990S SCA’s timber
business with Spain was run through an
agent until the business was shut down in the
late 1990s.
With the purchase of Graningeverken,
which had its own major sales to Spain, SCA’s
timber business was revitalised in 2001. It
was first run by an agent and then via direct
sales through the launch of SCA Timber
Europe, with better communication, simpler
dialogue and faster decisions.
“Marino De La Fuente is a stable and
important partner in Spain with the capacity
to follow the market when the upturn really
kicks in,” says Raffaele Parlato.
THE BUILDING CRISIS in Spain has also
affected logistics, with fewer ships and lower
volumes to Spanish ports.
SCA Timber Europe has therefore introduced a new route for shipments to Spain; by
ship to Rochefort in France and then by road
to guarantee the supply of timber to their
customers.
“Logistics are crucial to the way we fulfil
our orders to customers in Spain,” says Raffaele Parlato. “Today we get a boat from
Logistics are crucial to the way we fulfil our undertakings
“
to customers in Spain,”
RAFFAELE PARLATO, SCA TIMBER EUROPE
Sweden to Rochefort every four weeks, but
we expect to increase this to every two weeks
within the space of a year.”
AT MARINO DE LA FUENTE TOO, it’s clear
that the tide has turned. Turnover is increasing, as are imports and demand. Money is
flowing in Spain. There is always someone
willing to invest in a construction project or
house renovation, especially in the north of
the country, which has been less affected by
the crisis. And customers are slowly returning: small carpenters, construction companies, dealers in wood products without their
own warehouses who need rapid deliveries.
But no-one sends a whole lorry with two,
three packs of timber to another part of the
country. Instead you choose to work in the
areas where there are more advantageous
logistics solutions. In this way you can guarantee customers a complete range of standard and processed products.
Manolo de la Fuente predicts that it will
take about twelve years from the start of the
crisis until the pendulum swings back and
business really gets back on track.
“As long as we get it right, with good
products and reliable deliveries, we will have
a reserved seat on the train when that day
comes,” says Raffaele Parlato.
Text and photo: Mats Wigardt
Spanish timber wholesaler Marino De La Fuente is heading towards brighter days with increased demand and higher turnover.
timbernews | 14
MOVERS AND SHAKERS
HENRIK DAHLBOM took
up his new post of
Technical Manager at
SCA Timber on 1 September 2015. Henrik
was formerly Process
Manager at Ortviken
paper mill.
JOHN LLOYD has been appointed
Group Supply Chain and Procurement
Director at SCA Timber Supply UK.
John will be responsible for Procurement and Quality for SCA’s three UK
business streams in addition to direct
responsibility for SCA’s Stoke-based
Distribution Solution operation. He
joins SCA from Snows Timber, where
he held the position of Purchasing Director.
TORBJÖRN OLSSON has been ap-
ROBIN MIKAELSSON joined
pointed Business Manager at Tunadal sawmill. Torbjörn joined us
on 1 August 2015 and until 1 November 2015 he will be working
in parallel with Anders Petersson,
currently acting Business Manager, before taking over full responsibility as Business Manager.
Torbjörn was formerly a Project
Manager at Bofors.
the sales team at Mill
Sales Scandinavia on
1 October 2015. Robin
was previously Deputy
Business Manager at
Rundvik sawmill. STEVE RUMSAY has been
appointed as Procurement
Manager for Panel Products
at SCA Timber Supply UK.
Stephen will be responsible
for the sourcing, procurement and development of
SCA’s panel products category. Formerly working for
Metsä Wood UK, Stephen
has also gained experience
at Saint Gobain, FW Morgan, Arnold Laver and Montague L Meyer.
Market balance slowly
improving
Over the first half of 2015, global consumption of sawn solid-wood products, softwood, continued to grow slowly, as did
production.
The market balance improved over the same period, but not quite at the rate we would have liked.
Stock levels at the Swedish sawmills have dropped by around 15 percent since the start of the year, but at the end
of July they stood around 12 percent higher than in the same period of 2014.
AT A GLOBAL LEVEL, developments over the first half-year
have resulted in supply being somewhat higher than demand.
Coupled with exchange rate fluctuations, this has put a certain
amount of pressure on prices in local currency. Prices in USD
and GBP have fallen, but a weaker Swedish krona has offset this
for the Swedish sawmills.
WE ARE AFFECTED by the global situation and the way that it
is changing. New challenges have arisen and others no doubt lie
ahead. The USA, the world’s largest import market, is steadily
improving and the number of construction start-ups is rising
strongly. China, the second largest import market, is increasing
its purchasing power over the long term, but has temporarily
experienced a number of problems. The challenges in the
MENA countries – political, economic and war-related – are
considerable, but we have a major need for these markets and
imports are still showing a rising trend.
CONSUMPTION is gradually growing in Europe generally, but it
is starting from a very low baseline, while Sweden has seen
highly positive growth in consumption over the year.
Overall, it is reasonable to take a positive view of the trend
over the next five years, but with the caveat that short-term
problems and deteriorations may occur due to parameters we
are unable to predict at this stage.
Ante Andersson
Marketing Director, SCA Timber
15 | timbernews
Photo: Shutterstock
The forest’s black gold
Allan Nordmark is an experienced tar burner.
A couple of centuries ago, tar burning was an important branch of
the forest industry in inland Norrbotten, in the far north of Sweden.
Allan Nordmark’s family comes from the village Dirivaara, Överkalix,
where practically everyone has burned tar for as long as anyone can
remember.
“ÖVERKALIX WAS PRODUCING seven or eight 125-litre barrels per person in the mid-19th century. The tar barrels were
floated downriver to the coast for export on to countries such as
Britain and the Netherlands. The tar was used to treat ship’s timbers, amongst other things,” says Allan Nordmark.
It takes three cubic metres of prime fatwood to make one barrel
of tar. It is tough work chopping the wood into little bits, not
helped by the fact that the biggest tar deposits are in the most
twisted and difficult to cut wood in the roots.
Historically, large quantities of resin-rich, slow-grown pine was
used. When forestry took off in the late 18th century, a ban was
introduced on killing living trees, as was done to obtain good fatwood for tar. The optimum wood has since been sourced from
forest that has burned, preferably several times.
TAR REMAINS A GOOD WOOD PRESERVER, and can still be sold,
even if the return is not very high for the effort involved. When the
forest’s black gold starts to run an hour or two after lighting the
kiln, known as a ‘dale’, the air is filled with the characteristic
aroma.
“Tar burning is largely a cultural activity these days, but it’s
still a thrill every time you see it work,” comments Allan Nordmark. “And it’s great when people come and watch, which is why
I joined up with the owners of Vippabacken heritage centre in
Överkalix to dig out and build a new tar dale just last summer.”
The fatwood embers produce tar – an excellent wood preserver.
HE WAS ALSO AN ADVISOR on this year’s tar dale, which is on a
smaller scale, but still yields almost 30 litres of tar. Teaching new
people the age-old craft has become something of a mission for
Alan, and he has young people coming up behind him – his son,
daughter and son-in-law all know how to burn tar. During his
career at the Swedish Forest Agency, he also trained teachers, who
then used what they had learned to help bring history to life.
Allan Nordmark throws peat onto the tar dale with a practised
hand, ready to keep things burning at just the right pace. Brushwood is used for the outer layer, which is set alight to kick-start
the process of applying heat to the fatwood. Then the whole dale
is covered. The best wood should be furthest in.
“They used to have birch-bark as the underlay in the pit in the
ground, and the biggest dales measured several hundred cubic
metres,” he explains. “They burned for several days and needed a
large team of people to look after them.”
Text: Katarina Karlsson
Photo: Gunnar Svedenbäck
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