New particleboard factory under discussion

Austrian company Egger is planning to build a high-capacity particleboard factory in Romania in a 150 million-euro investment, market sources told BUSINESS Magazin. Egger representatives are currently in negotiations with the Romanian Foreign Investment Agency (ARIS) for the investment-related facilities, quoted sources say. The furniture producers in Romania contacted the Austrians after Kronospan, the owner of the largest factory in the country, increased particleboard prices by between 30 to 50%. Kronospan bought two wood-based board factories from Italy’s Frati Group this year, MDF Sebes SA and Sepal SA, in a deal estimated at 250 million euros. MDF Sebes SA makes medium density fibreboard (MDF), which is very popular abroad, though not so in Romania, while Sepal SA supplies around 80% of domestically produced raw particleboard and is the only manufacturer of melamine-faced particleboard in Romania. Read more on this story in today’s issue of the weekly BUSINESS Magazin. ZF