Diversification of the forest industries: role of new wood-based products

Abstract

This study identifies new wood-based products with considerable potential and attractive markets, including textiles, liquid biofuels, platform chemicals, plastics, and packaging. We apply a mixed-methods review to examine how the position of the forest industry in a given value chain determines the respective production value. An assessment is provided as to the degree to which these emerging wood-based products could compensate for the foreseen decline of graphic paper markets in four major forest industry countries: USA, Canada, Sweden, and Finland. A 1%-2% market share in selected global markets implies a potential increase in revenues of 18-75 billion euros per annum in the four selected countries by 2030. This corresponds to 10%-43% of the production value of forest industries in 2016 and compares with a projected decline of graphic paper industry revenue of 5.5 billion euros by 2030. The respective impacts on wood use are manifold, as many of the new products utilize by-products as feedstock. The increase in primary wood use, which is almost entirely attributed to construction and to some extent textiles markets, would be in the range of 15-133 million m 3 , corresponding to 2%-21% of the current industrial roundwood use in the selected countries.

The EU Bioeconomy: Supporting an Employment Shift Downstream in the Wood-Based Value Chains?

“…The extension we have offered gives a better insight into the employment directly related to the manufacture of wood-based products. In addition, it allows for a more complete assessment of the latest employment trends, such as the expansion of the industries operating in the wood-based sector beyond the traditional products and their move downstream in the value chain [38,39].…”

Plantation forests in Europe: challenges and opportunities

“…Textiles, liquid biofuels, platform chemicals, plastics and packaging are new forest-based bioproducts which often substitute for fossil-based products, and that particularly have the potential to alleviate declining profits from communication paper (Hurmekoski et al 2018). Although many of the possible new products can utilize by-products from current wood processing chains, there could also be increases in primary wood use, mainly in the construction and textile markets (Hurmekoski et al 2018). Wood panels and engineered wood products, as well as packaging paper and paperboard have been growing strongly over the past decade.…”

“…Wood panels and engineered wood products, as well as packaging paper and paperboard have been growing strongly over the past decade. According to Hurmekoski et al (2018), gaining 1-2% market share for these new wood-based products in total global markets would compensate for the losses from declining demand for communication paper. This would correspond to between a 10 and 43% increase in revenues and an increase of between 2 and 21% in current industrial roundwood use in the USA, Canada, Sweden and Finland.…”

“…The established forest-based industries already provide a whole array of raw material and intermediate products (e.g. energy chips, sawnwood, pulp) to higher-value added end-product producers (Hurmekoski et al 2018). The foreseeable changes are producing a growing diversity and complexity in the forest sector and its value-chains, presenting what are likely to be ever greater economic and policymaking challenges in Europe and worldwide in the future.…”

Textile natural fibers production regarding the agroforestry approach

“…The textile industry is one of the world's largest industrial sectors in terms of volume, with rapidly growing global demand driven by increases in population and average income [27]. In the textile and apparel industry, environmental impacts start at the initial stage of production itself and can be grouped under categories such as raw material production, where chemicals toxic in nature is used in growing cotton [1].…”