timbernews
A magazine for SCA’s solid wood products customers | www.scatimber.com
SCA TIMBER FRANCE
welcomes Nebopan
ARCHITECTS IN FOCUS
DIRECT SALES TO FRENCH CUSTOMERS
ON THE RISE
A FOLLOWING WIND FOR WOOD
2
2015
SCA Timber France,
“Nordic spirit”!
Photo: Pascal Robin
I
Nebopan Group visits SCA’s Rochefort
site in France.
CONTENTS
A following wind for wood
3
What is the strategy for
SCA Timber France?
4
SCA Timber France
welcomes Nebopan!
6
Direct sales to French
customers on the rise
8
9
Movers and shakers
11
On our way to better balance
in supply and demand
11
Gold Branch for Katarina
Levin of SCA Timber
12
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
Feel free to quote us, but please
name us as your source.
EVEN THOUGH TOUGH TIMES still lie
ahead for the French economy, we have
decided to stay on course and not to halt
our development programme, which we are
confident will be key to our success in the
future.
BOLSTERING OUR SALES FORCE imme-
SCA Timber France
offers high-performance,
innovative products
Subscribe to Timber News, please
contact ingrid.lofqvist@sca.com
n a gloomy climate, SCA stays on course!
The merger of our two companies PLF
and SCA Timber France, in May 2014, is
now completed and becoming a fully integrated part of SCA Timber.
PLF has thus ceased to exist and the
new organisation, SCA Timber France, has
come into being, with a motivated team
that relishes a challenge.
diately and expanding our autumn offering
will be the first signs our customers and
partners see.
Our objectives are clear: cost control,
efficiency, service, reliability and customer
satisfaction.
OUR MAIN ASSET is having the support of
our Group, a forest owner and one of the
largest sawmill operators in Europe, which
gives us great stability in these financially
difficult times. SCA sees France as a dynamic country with a promising future.
We are, after all, the country with the
best demographics in Europe.
GOING FORWARD, SCA Timber France will
have a presence in all market segments in
France, with a complete offering, from
sawn to value added wood, including its
comprehensive range of fully finished cladding and panelling.
Thanks to our newly launched consultancy service SCA Timber France will
become a major player with an innovative
offering for architects and designers in the
construction market.
WE WILL BE LISTENING to our partners
and at their side to assure our mutual
growth as soon as there is an upturn in the
economy.
Perhaps having “Nordic spirit” also
means showing what you’re made of!!
Patrick Fournier
Managing Director, SCA Timber France
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
A following wind
for wood
Photo: Jerker Norlander/IBL Bildbyrå
France is one of Europe’s largest markets for sawn wood products. The use of wood
in the French construction sector has increased significantly. And although a limping
economy has led to a significant decline in the number of construction start-ups,
wood has taken hold in earnest as a building material.
I
n France most houses have traditionally
been built from stone, brick or concrete.
Compared with the USA and the Nordic
countries, the proportion of wooden houses
in France is remarkably low.
But since 2007, when the then president
Nicolas Sarkozy succeeded in uniting the
state, opposition, trade unions and various
environmental organisations around shared
goals for a more sustainable society, there has
been a clear change of course. Sarkozy’s initiative is called “Le Grenelle”.
THE AGENDA for the talks between the par-
ties in the summer of 2007 involved the
development of a five-year programme with
concrete measures for tackling environmental problems.
The area that dominated the talks was how
the construction sector should be more environmentally friendly, with more low energy
houses and more sustainable building materials. The increased use of wood was intended
to reduce emissions of carbon dioxide.
“The agreement has resulted in the increased
acceptance of wood in French housebuilding,” thinks Staffan Åkerlund, Editor in Chief
of the Swedish trade magazine Byggindustrin.
He highlights several ongoing and already
completed investments in wooden houses in
France. Technical developments with loadbearing structures of glulam beams and laminated timber have also made it possible for
French architects to implement advanced
designs of houses of up to ten storeys.
In addition, several of France’s largest
construction companies have joined forces
behind the Grenelle agreement which brings
the goal of using wood for the construction
of ten percent of all new houses in the country within reach.
“Although France is not currently undergoing an economic boom, new building projects are underway everywhere, with an
increase in industrial construction using an
increasing proportion of wood,” says Åkerlund.
AT THE SAME TIME there are other signs
worth noting. In the past year the proportion
of construction start-ups for new residential
housing has fallen to around 360,000, or 12
per cent. The recession has also brought
about a clear decline in the consumption of
wood in the country.
President Hollande has also chosen to
take a different path to the one set out by his
predecessor Sarkozy. An explicit focus on
reduced carbon dioxide emissions by
increasing the proportion of wood in new
houses has been replaced by a programme
for converting old government buildings
into homes – without specifying what materials should be used.
In addition, the new government presented a 34-point programme in September
2013 that will mark a new start for French
industry.
AS FAR AS THE WOOD INDUSTRY is con-
Bois.com is an information campaign with the
aim of increasing the use of wood.
3 | timbernews
cerned, it should be developed to provide a
competitive future resource for economic
growth, contributing to energy, construction
and consumption.
“Great,” comments Otto Bosch of the
French consultancy Wood Consult. “But
most of the timber products available in
France are hardwood. A great deal of
research and development work is required
before it can replace close-grained spruce
and pine. ”
Bosch therefore thinks that the French
government’s focus on a renaissance of the
country’s industry will if anything bring
about an increase in imports of sawn timber
from countries such as Finland and Sweden.
When the French government also has the
aim of increasing the proportion of high
and CO2 neutral timber houses, good times
are on the horizon for the country’s manufacturers of glulam material and laminated
timber, CLT, something that further
increases the need for high-quality imported
timber.
“After all, there is much evidence to suggest a slow but steady increase in demand
for imported timber,” concludes Bosch.
Mats Wigardt
Footnote:
Swedish Wood is conducting an information campaign in France with the aim of
increasing the use of wood. The initiator of
the campaign is “bois.com” and this is a
continuation of the previous campaign “Le
bois c’est essentiel”. Target groups are the
general public and the construction sector.
WHAT IS THE SALES STRATEGY
FOR SCA Timber France?
Having had business experience of importing timber products and
in the sales department of Sotrinbois (an SCA customer), Jérémy
Roussarie decided to take up the SCA Timber France challenge
offered to him by Patrick Fournier. He talks us through his action plan.
You started in the role of Sales Director at SCA Timber
France on 1 October. What did you think when you
arrived?
I found a highly professional sales team that was waiting for a large project following SCA’s acquisition of
PLF. The mood was very positive and I was given a
warm welcome.
However, the remit of SCA Timber France was, in
sales terms, poorly defined. On the one hand, the sales
staff in the import terminal were selling sawn wood
and decking to certain old customers under the SCA
banner. On the other, the former PLF sales team was
still selling under the PLF brand, with a sales plan of
sawn wood and planed products, sometimes to the
same customers. They did not understand, and it was
necessary to draw up a clear, comprehensible policy.
In addition, when I arrived, Patrick Fournier asked
me to assess the situation and make recommendations
to him. In early January we approved the road map
together.
So, what is this sales strategy?
First of all, I wanted to unify our PR and create a single
entity: SCA Timber France, which could sell knowhow, from raw wood to finished products. The replacement of PLF with SCA marketing ought to clarify
where we stand and show our customers that a change
has taken place.
We are refocusing our offer on Nordic woods
(Norway spruce, Scots pine), the DNA of the SCA
Group. This specialisation therefore involves strengthening our sales plan, with innovative and complementary products, but staying true to our Nordic roots.
What about customers?
We have targeted four market sectors that are vital for
the development of a sawmill/processor like SCA
Timber France: professional merchants, DIY retail
platforms, industry and export.
Potentials vary depending on the market sectors
targeted.
With regard to professional merchants, the aim is to
strengthen our presence in specialist timber stores that
purchase large volumes. This involves aggressively
pursuing calls to tender and strengthening the sales
plan to offer a mix of products in our deliveries.
For DIY retail, we don’t want to deliver directly to
stores, as it’s too much of a major logistical undertaking. We want to continue to work in real partnership
with the platforms in this sector. Moreover, we are not
yet included in platform product catalogues, such as
for cladding and EGP, but we have the power to tackle
those markets.
For industry, the pool of customers is important.
Our market share is weak, apart from regarding laminate producers. I think that the dual know-how, our
sawmill import terminal and planing, is an interesting
proposition for our customers, whether they are
moulders, coffin manufacturers or other customers.
Finally, with regard to export, we have it all to do,
because we don’t have a major presence in that area.
The French overseas departments market is an interesting one, as exotic woods have been replaced in construction by Nordic woods. Prices are quite low, but
the volumes are high. We are targeting large retail
groups to build a solid and lasting relationship. In
addition, in local export – such as to Spain, Italy and
the Benelux countries – we want to develop partnerships in those countries, such as with SCA Timber
Supply UK, which we are already working with, and
which has customers such as the Wickes chain of
stores.
How are you going to monitor these four customer
categories in sales terms?
Each sector has to be monitored by a dedicated sales
force. The sales force therefore had to be restructured.
We are now putting in place six salespeople for professional merchants, two salespeople for industry, a team
of local agents for export and I’ll personally monitor
DIY platforms. There is now a single SCA Timber
France sales team, which is sub-divided by market
sector, covering the whole sales plan, from sawn wood
to finished products.
As we want to grow market share, the sales team is
going to step up exploration of market opportunities.
We have therefore created a coordinator at the Rochefort facility, who will be available to answer customers’ queries regarding availability.
What turnover are you aiming for?
We want to double our turnover in the medium
term.
timbernews | 4
“
SCA Timber France
can sell know-how,
from sawn wood to
finished products.”
JÉRÉMY ROUSSARIE
In addition to your strategy, what other tools do you
have to achieve this goal?
First of all, the power of the SCA Group. Some distributor partners are looking for large groups that can
offer European, or even global, strategies. We can
respond to the mass-market strategies of the distribution network. Moreover, the fact that we are Europe’s
largest forest owner is reassuring and enables our customers to plan ahead with no concerns, and to secure
volumes that will be under pressure in the years ahead.
In addition, the implementation of an initiative targeting architetcs and specifiers of larger construction
projects, led by Philippe Bence, will, I’m sure, give us a
degree of recognition among contractors and, therefore, give us an additional turnover boost.
Furthermore, the introduction of tools such as SAP
has greatly improved product availability. For us, level
of service will be a major development strategy.
Because those who sell are those who have the products and deliver them quickly at a good price.
What are the risks?
Volumes consumed have decreased in recent years.
This is due, in part, to the delicate economic situation,
but also to fierce competition from other materials,
such as composite, fibre cement and others. This,
when added to excessive and strong competition,
puts a squeeze on our sales prices and therefore our
margins.
The only solution is to grow market share, with a
smart product offering, an impeccable level of service
and a highly dynamic approach to sales.
To sum up?
I am very happy to be part of a close-knit, dynamic
team. The road map is clear, and it’s now up to us to
make it happen.
Jérémy Roussarie, Sales Director of SCA Timber France
5 | timbernews
Photo: Pascal Robin
SCA Timber France WELCOMES NEBOPAN!
Nebopan Group visits SCA’s Rochefort site in France.
It was on a sunny day, on 22 April 2015, that Nebopan decided to
visit SCA’s Rochefort site in France. Fifteen decision-makers from
Nebopan, part of the central procurement group CMEM, had the
chance to look around SCA’s timber import terminal, as well as its
three on-site planing lines. “It’s always a pleasure to show our
customers around our facility,” said Benjamin Bodet, Site Manager.
W
hile SCA Timber France already partners with
some Nebopan Group members, SCA wants to
continue to grow its partnership with a group of timber
specialists like Nebopan. In order to do that, “We are
investing in the sales plan, prescription offer and
development”, said Jérémy Roussarie from SCA
Timber France. “We believe that the professional
merchant market is undergoing restructuring. The
future belongs to merchants that tailor their product
offering to a very specific sector.” It is on this basis
that SCA Timber France wants to support “Timber
Specialist” merchants, such as Nebopan. “We want to
Participating Merchants:
• Armor bois : Lionel Leprovost
• Bouney : Sebastien Rospide
• Corne : Frederic Maire
• Descamps : Samuel Viandier
• Lalliard Negoce : André Brasier
• Landre : Patrick Maignant
• Machot : Eric Machot
• Martens : Eric Martens
• Mba : Jean Pierre Roirand
• Ratheau : Daniel Remy
• Roger : Hugo Roger
• Rullier : Philippe Rullier
• Socobois : Eric Boichot
• Nebopan Coordinator : Yves Gondran Teiller
grow our sales plan around wooden homes and
Nordic woods. Combining SCA’s raw wood offering
and PLF’s planed products into one sales plan means
we can offer an effective product mix. Today, Nebopan is one of the most dynamic brands in this sector
and we are delighted to support its members in all
their projects.”
Four questions for Nebopan members:
What are the keys to success for you in the years
ahead?
“Consultancy remains an important development
strategy for us. A customer should be able to get the
technical information they need to successfully complete their project,” said Hugo Roger.
timbernews | 6
Philippe Rullier was convinced that the key lay in
providing support, from the craftsman all the way
up to the end customer. “The craftsman, busy with
day-to-day work, does not take the time to present
our complete product offering. The result is that the
end customer makes their choice completely unaware of the possibilities we can offer. We need to
raise awareness among the general public, and the
main way we can do that is still through professionals, who we need to support with our PR and our
salespeople. We need to see things all the way
through.” Patrick Maignant insisted that, “we therefore expect our supplier partners to hold regular
training for our sales teams. You need to emphasise
your technical arguments.”
How do you see the future of Nordic timber?
Philippe Rullier said that “Nordic wood will increasingly be used by specialists. The arrival of glued laminated products on the market has enabled professionals to save time and be more productive.”
“Regarding the structure, the joinery and fittings,
processed products have gained ground. Your sales
plans have to have added value,” said Jean-Pierre
Roirand.
Nebopan Group
The number one group of independent specialists: Established in 1995, today Nebopan represents:
• 21 SMEs, made up of timber, panel and timber product merchants
• 65 retail outlets
• 1,250 collaborators
• 30,000 customers
• 1,000 suppliers
• 2013 turnover: €368 million
AS THE LEADING FRENCH GROUP
of independent SMEs working in the timber and
timber product sector, Nebopan inspires a spirit
of confidence, friendliness and solidarity among
all its members.
Founded on sharing resources and experience, the Group enables each business to develop in line with its strategy, while benefiting
from the many joint initiatives it undertakes.
What is Nebopan’s development strategy?
Eric Boichot told us that “the Nebopan Group now
has 21 members. Members regularly leave, so we
have to make up for that with new members. We
don’t want to get up to 50 members, but we have to
remain representative in France in order to carry
weight in negotiations.”
“Moreover, we only want to work with timber
specialists so we can share common problems,” said
Lionel Leprovost.
In your view, is e-commerce a development strategy
for you?
Frederic Maire: “We don’t have any specific measures; we are counting on CMEM and its e-commerce project.”
“In addition, we have our own sites and some
projects, but they will remain for internal use,” said
Sebastien Rospide.
“Online sales of materials exceeded one billion
euros in 2014,” said Samuel Viandier, “so it’s a
development strategy for us.”
“Some online materials sites consult us in order
to involve us in their logistical offering,” concluded
Philippe Rullier.
Photo: Pascal Robin
7 | timbernews
DIRECT SALES TO FRENCH
CUSTOMERS ON THE RISE
Since SCA Timber strengthened its position in France in 2012, by the acquisition of
PLF, the market has changed and developed. SCA Timber France is therefore introducing a new service, SCA Timber Mill Sales, with sales directly from SCA’s sawmills
in Sweden to customers in France.
W
hile SCA Timber France caters
for a broad range of customers and different market segments,
the newly set up SCA Timber Mill
Sales will sell larger contracts on a
“direct import” basis to the French
market.
SCA OFFER deliveries to both build-
ing material merchants and blanks
suitable for the timber industry as
well as traditional timber products.
To provide the best possible support and service to customers with
different requirements, SCA Timber
France is now reorganising its operations, with a focus on developing
sales and becoming even more competitive on larger volumes in France.
“The structure of our organisation needs to change in response to
the new conditions,” observes Ante
Andersson, Vice President Marketing Direct Sales at SCA Timber.
“We have put dedicated resources
in place with the focus on the leads of
larger industry customers,” summarises Andersson.
ACTIVITIES IN FRANCE are now
divided. SCA Timber France ensures
that sawn, planed and processed
products are distributed from Rochefort and Bonneuil-Matours to builders merchants, industrial customers
and do-it-yourself chains.
Managing Director of SCA Timber
France is Patrick Fournier. Assisted
by Sales Director Jeremy Roussarie
and his sales team, Patrick Fournier
will continue to develop the business
in France.
“We offer full service to our
customers. It means immediate deliveries from our stock as well as the
possibility to mix sawn, treated and
processed products in one delivery if
needed. Service and efficient product
range will be the keys of our success,”
says Jeremy Roussarie.
The person responsible for Mill
Sales is Raffaele Parlato, Head of
SCA Timber Europe. To assist him,
on the spot in Rochefort, he has
Marko Terho, Sales Director,
Philippe Elias, Sales Manager and
Sales Assistant Patricia Thomas.
“Our first priority is customer
satisfaction. In a lean organization
we will be more efficient and still
close to our customers. Our aim is to
grow together with our partners,”
says Marko Terho.
“We have an efficient flow direct
from the sawmill to the customer,
with streamlined logistics for products that are already sold,” says Parlato. “The aim is for 100,000 cubic
metres of sawn solid-wood products
per year to take this route.
TO FURTHER STRENGTHEN the ser-
vice and security of supply for customers, a back-up stock is being set
up in Rochefort, designed for the
urgent needs of larger industrial customers, amongst other the gluelam
industry. Nobody should need to end
up in a situation where they are without any raw materials.
“This is an additional service that
is unique to us,” says Parlato.
Mats Wigardt
• To meet the different needs in the
French market for solid-wood products, and to deliver the best possible
service and support to customers,
SCA Timber’s business in France
has been organised into two units.
• Operating
out of Rochefort and
Bonneuil-Matours, SCA Timber
France distributes a broad range of
products to builders merchants, the
timber industry and DIY chains.
• SCA Timber Mill Sales sells large
volumes of sawn solid-wood products directly from SCA’s sawmills in
Sweden to customers in France.
The French Mill Sales team: Philippe Elias, Sales Manager, Patricia Thomas., Sales Assistant and Marko
Terho, Sales Director.
timbernews | 8
Completion of ongoing work Fosse 9 Oignies (62).
Design: Architects HERAULT ARNOD.
Implementing: New Society ANZALONE.
Ceiling with wooden slats.
SCA Timber France OFFERS HIGHPERFORMANCE, INNOVATIVE PRODUCTS
We have seen that the products or technical solutions implemented in a building or a development are generally chosen at the
design stage. In order to effectively promote our products, we
have therefore decided to step up our pre-project activities among
prescribers*.
What is our objective?
The objective of our approach is
five-fold: The first is to grow the use
of our products and our technical
products in particular. The second is
to better understand the expectations of the prescribers in construction so that we can design products
that are ever more suited to the
requirements of the market. The
third is to strengthen the image of
SCA Timber France by having our
products used in remarkable buildings. The fourth is to support the
activities of our distributors by growing demand and, lastly, the fifth –
which comes under our responsibility towards the timber industry – is
to help promote wood-based solutions more generally, instead of
other technical solutions.
What are their expectations and
their needs?
Prescribers are always very sensitive
to the functional aspect of products,
particularly mechanical, thermal
and acoustic performance, but they
are also attentive to the durability,
maintenance and productivity of
components. The environmental
factor is also important in their
selection criteria, and the aesthetic
aspect is crucial in the choice of interior decoration or facade.
It is therefore encouraging to
note that wood-based technical and
aesthetic solutions, specifically SCA
Timber France solutions, such as
Premium XL, Premium 15, the Dermawood® option, or the total cladding range, perfectly meet designers’
expectations.
Who are the prescribers?
What measures are we taking?
The vast majority of prescribers are
architects, but other stakeholders
also play a role in the choice of
products, such as interior architects,
quantity surveyors, technical departments of large corporations, authorities, hotel chains and leisure parks,
and even property developers, builders of individual houses or public
housing offices.
While it is crucial to offer high-performance, innovative products, it is
also vital to tell people about them.
We have therefore mobilised human
and material resources to do this: a
team of three full-time equivalents,
new dedicated prescriber services
and additional tools to round out
our PR resources. We are also preparing a new version of our website
9 | timbernews
(www.scatimberfrance.fr), an interface that sees a lot of use by designers, which will gradually incorporate the new tools we are going to
offer.
What is our action plan?
In cooperation with our distribution
partners, we have started to carry
out promotional activities among
major prescribers and we will continue to work closely with them in
future. We have also arranged to
identify and monitor large construction projects across the country.
Lastly, we are working on expanding our range of innovative technical
solutions.
What are our prospects?
We launched this project just a few
weeks ago and we still have much to
do, but the initial results are rather
encouraging. Prescribers are interested in our products, and our distribution partners are very positive
towards our approach.
It would therefore appear that
we are on the right track to make
prescribers a major lever of development for us and our partners.
* In major construction and renovation projects, the implementation is
often specified by an architect or prescriber. Today this is generally computerised, with products and solutions specified in a digital format.
Philippe Bence, Director for Market
Development
GATA – good news for everyone involved
2014 saw the introduction of GATA – SCA’s new
system for transport and log flow management. GATA
is a system that links up stocks, transport, measurement and unloading in a web-based solution.
Munksund Sawmill and log trucks in Norrbotten
have been quick to connect to the system. All trucks
that regularly operate on behalf of SCA now have a
tablet or smartphone in the cab that records information. A similar tablet can also be found in the log stackers at the sawmill.
The truck drivers simply tap in the volume of their
particular wood type, choose the drop-off point and
calculate the arrival time. In the log stacker at the sawmill, the tablet tells the driver the planned arrival time
for different trucks and rail wagons. Since the system
is online, the information is updated automatically.
The system benefits all the parties involved. The
log truck drivers can see how busy deliveries to a
particular site are and so can avoid taking on a load
that might be subject to queues at the other end. The
drivers of the log stackers are better able to plan their
work, and the transport managers can easily post
information online about opening times, delivery restrictions and so on.
SCA TIMBER SUPPLY SKANDINAVIEN
has developed a customised offering of a
fully finished exterior cladding range for
Byggmax, which has supplemented its
physical stores with an online store and a
Click and Collect option.
On the website of builders merchant
Byggmax, customers can choose what
they want, view the total cost and make
their payment. They then receive a message
when the goods are ready for collection or
home delivery.
SCA Timber Supply Skandinavien’s delivery agreement with Byggmax covers exterior cladding, with
four colour options and five different profiles in two
different lengths, making a total of about 40 items.
“Online purchasing of building products is set
to grow. It offers a convenient way for customers
to buy the goods they need without worrying about
store opening times,” says Kent Andersson, SCA
Timber Supply Skandinavien’s Sales Manager for
the Swedish market.
Ingrid Löfqvist
GÄLLÖ TIMBER
INVESTS IN NEW
CONTROL SYSTEM
GÄLLÖ TIMBER is investing SEK 10 mil-
lion in a new control system for the saw
line, a new three-dimensional in-feed
system and a system for rotating and
optimising the yield from each log.
“This investment gives us the technology to get the most out of the wood raw
material. We’ll now be able to extract the
maximum value from every single log,”
explains Urban Wiklund, Managing
Director of Gällö Timber.
timbernews | 10
Ph
ot
o:
Ul
fA
re
sk
oo
g
MOVERS AND SHAKERS
JOAKIM NEHRER has been ap-
SCA Timber builds
painting facility in Tunadal
TO MEET the growing demand for fully
finished exterior cladding, a new painting facility is built at Tunadal Sawmill
in Sundsvall. The facility is expected to
be up and running in June.
SCA Timber Supply Skandinavien,
which supplies Scandinavian builders
merchants with wood products, already
has a painting facility in Stugun. The
new facility in Tunadal will double
painting capacity, in order to meet the
growing demand from builders merchants for industrially primed and intermediate-coated cladding.
SCA Timber’s exterior cladding
made of slow-grown Nordic spruce,
is planed directly before finishing in
order to guarantee that the surface is
completely free from pollutants. After
priming, there is the option of treating
the cladding with further intermediate coats and, if requested, it can be
fully finished.
The various treatment options can
be carried out using any paint colour
from the ranges of leading paint suppliers, based on the international Natural
Color System (NCS).
pointed Sales Manager for the
Swedish market at SCA Timber Supply Skandinavien. Joakim joins us from Bauhaus in
Sundsvall, where he was Store
Manager, and his previous positions included head of B2B
sales in Sweden at K-rauta.
Joakim will take up his new
post on 1 August 2015 as a
replacement for Kent Andersson, who is retiring.
Ingrid Löfqvist
On our way to better balance
in supply and demand
After a period of oversupply, caused
mainly by high production levels in the
Nordic countries and stop in the Egypt
business for some months, we can
now see that we are getting into a
better balanced period.
PRODUCTION IN CENTRAL EUROPE
has decreased and since some months stocks
of spruce is decrasing at the sawmills.
Production of Nordic pine is still quite
high in the Nordic countries but the market
is now open for higher consumtion levels
again and we expect that pine stock levels
will start decreasing from April.
STOCKS OF NORDIC PINE are, however,
on the high side in the end of April so there
will still be a pressure on the pine prices for
some weeks or months.
Prices of Nordic spruce are now levelling
out and even increasing in some segments.
Overall the market prices, in local currency, have been decreasing for some months
11 | timbernews
but Swedish sawmills have been helped by a
weaker Swedish krona. Profitability in the
Swedish sawmills is expected to be on a
good level.
AS STATED BEFORE in this market update,
I am still quite optimistic about the five-year
outlook. Consumption increased a bit
more than we forecast last year and
coming years expectations of consumption looks positive.
An increase of about
three percent annually
is forecast in global
consumption of softwood.
Anders Ante Andersson
Marketing Director,
SCA Timber
URBAN WIKLUND, Marketing
Manager at SCA Timber
Supply Skandinavien, became
Managing Director of Gällö
Timber on 1 March 2015. He succeeded Johan Olofsson, who has moved on to
become Sawmill Manager at
Bollsta Sawmill.
Photo: Swedish Forest Industries Federation
Katarina Levin (second from left) at the Gold Branch award ceremony. Prince Carl Philip, to the right of Katarina, presented the award.
Gold Branch for Katarina Levin of SCA Timber
Katarina Levin, Sawmill Manager at Tunadal Sawmill, has been
awarded a Gold Branch by the Swedish Forestry Association.
The award goes to people who have made valuable contributions to Swedish forests and forestry. H.R.H Prince Carl Philip
presented the Gold Branch at Forest Industry Week.
T
he jury explained its choice as follows: “Having already headed
Sweden’s largest sawmill, Katarina Levin has recently moved
on to take charge of the second largest, with responsibility for
implementing an investment of half a billion kronor. At both mills,
the ambition is to be among the top flight of European sawmills.
Katarina ensures that more than one million cubic metres of logs
are sawn each year and she manages capital assets of around one
billion kronor. But despite all the hardware and hard currency, she
begins each sawmill presentation with the most valuable asset –
the employees who run the operation. Katarina Levin’s leadership
involves trying to develop each employee, as well as establishing
team spirit and a common aspiration towards a clear goal. Katarina is on the Swedish weekly business journal Veckans Affärer’s
list of the one hundred most successful women in Swedish business. She clears the path for hundreds and thousands of other
skilled and knowledgeable women in forestry and the forest industry to achieve the most responsible and prominent positions. Katarina Levin has raised the bar for both production and leadership.
She leads the way for the Swedish timber industry, both as a professional field and as a global business partner.”
“IT’S BOTH A PLEASURE AND AN HONOUR to receive this award.
It’s particularly good to see a Gold Branch going to the processing
side of things,” says Katarina.
“People and wood fire me up with enthusiasm. I have the privilege of helping to create value along with my committed and
skilled employees at the sawmill. The ability of many people to
pull in the same direction is crucial. I reckon I work in the best
industry, with the best raw material. Wood is not just wonderful
to live with, it’s also renewable and recyclable. Being involved in
taking responsibility for the future, building the future using sustainable material from our forests – that’s incredibly motivating!”
Footnote: The Swedish Forestry Association is an independent,
non-profit members’ organisation that seeks to develop the forests
in terms of their economic assets and their environmental assets
and experiences. The goal is to make better use of all the potential
in the forests. Founded in 1882, the association currently has
around 8,000 members.
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