Overlays and Surfaces In the European Wood-Based Panels Business, 1998 Plastic Laminates Symposium Proceedings

Despite poor demand fundamentals in the key end-user industries (furniture and building), the consumption of overlays for wood-based panels will continue to grow relatively strongly in Europe. Germany, UK, Italy, France and Spain will account for the majority of demand. Reduced household spend on furniture has resulted in an increasing use of overlaid panels as manufacturers strive to maximise product quality while minimising costs. The most dynamic growth will be in the demand for low pressure laminate and, in particular, thermoplastic foil. Consumption of paper foil, laminate and industrial film will continue to grow but at a slower rate than here-to-fore. The decline in veneer consumption will stabilise.

The European overlaying business is fundamentally different from North America with most panel producers having integrated laminating capacity, usually low pressure melamine. Furthermore, North America is dominated by structural panels (plywood and OSB) while in Europe it is non-structural panels (MDF and particleboard) destined for lamination with decorative overlays which account for the bulk of panel production.