Sawn softwood production in Sweden increased by 4% to 11 million m3 during the first three quarters of 2002, according to figures issued by the Swedish National Board of Forestry. Furthermore, average export prices for sawn softwood during this period were distinctly higher than last year.
Södra reports improved incomes for its sawmill, forestry and financial operations. “The sales trend for sawn timber products is positive and demand remains high,” reports Anders Wahrolén, president and CEO of Södra.
Sveaskog states that the market for sawn timber remained strong, with higher volumes and lower costs compensating for a negative trend in processing operations. Sveaskog also reported higher felling costs, mainly due to storm felling at the beginning of the year. Storm felling also contributed to an increase in timber deliveries for Mellanskog and to better results.
Merger talks
Three forestry organisations – Swedish Wood, the Swedish Sawmill Association and the Swedish Forest Industries Federation – have announced that they are considering a merger and are currently making a feasibility study. The main aim would be to gather the forest industry’s wood engineering companies into one common, powerful organisation. The boards of the organisations believe that this would not only give them more commercial influence politically but also increased cost efficiency.
The intention is to establish a special wood engineering division within the Swedish Forest Industries Federation under the name of Swedish Wood. A final decision on the merger will be taken at the associations’ annual meetings in April.
The Swedish government has announced that it will appoint a negotiator to devise a long-term strategy, together with the timber and construction sectors, in order that modern wood based construction systems can become more established on the market. The negotiator is to submit a strategy and a plan of campaign to the government, outlining proposals on what action should be taken.
Despite changes to Sweden’s building regulations in 1994 permitting new application areas for wood, it has been difficult to make an impact on certain market areas such as multi-storey buildings and bridges. It is therefore considered that the state should play a supportive and co-ordinating role to facilitate innovations and to gain a foothold in the market.
A number of developments in timber have recently been announced by the Luleå University of Technology. For example, in a thesis for a doctorate, Jan Nyström has developed a method to reveal quality faults in wood before sawing takes place. The method involves measuring the direction of the fibre in a tree based on a laser connected to a computer. The method has been tested and evaluated in several sawmills with good results.
Heat treatment
Secondly, the development of drying and heat treatment methods using microwaves and super-heated steam is under way. This technique means that joinery workshops can obtain wood with a new appearance and new properties.
“For example heat treatment can make birch look like mahogany, the wood swells and shrinks less and is more resistant to rot. With microwaves it is also possible to dry individual boards very rapidly,” says Professor Tom Morén, of the department of wood physics, who led the work.
In a third development researchers at the university have patented an adhesive-free wood fibreboard. This is done by oxidising the wood with the result that it is self-bonding when pressed.
“A great deal of work remains to be done,” says Olov Karlsson who developed the board together with Professor Ulla Westermark. “Our hope is to develop an ecological board that can be manufactured on a small or medium-sized scale.”
Reduced felling costs
A prototype of a harvarder – a combined harvester and forwarder – has been tested over the past year by Holmen Skog. The machine is based on a concept which has been under development by Holmen Skog and Sten Nyström of Malå Skogstjänst since 1998 and further developed since 2000 by Valmet. The aim is to reduce felling costs and improve profitability. The new machine can fell, strip and cut timber to length as a harvester does but, by also having a transporting function, it eliminates the need for stacking.
Holmen says that its harvarder differs from other similar machines in one important aspect – it has a turnable loading unit which can also be tilted. This is one of the reasons for the machine’s good performance, since all the timber can be processed directly in the loading unit.
The company says that work still remains to be done before the harvarder can be seen as a fully developed machine, but so far the results have been good. It believes that it may well be the forest machine of the future.
And underlining the potential of Swedish glulam, what are thought to be the largest chess pieces in the world have been made in the material by Pelarsnickeriet in Skellefteå. The 4m high and 1.4m base diameter pieces were placed in the Kista Shopping Centre, Stockholm, at the end of December. The chess pieces were commissioned by Millimeter Arkitekter, designers for Levinsky’s Chess Café where the pieces will stand. The basic material for the pieces consisted of lengths of Comwood supplied by Martinsons Trä in Bygdsilium.
Mats Allanson, managing director of Pelarsnickeriet, says that it is the only company in the world that can turn up to 10m-long, round, lengths of glulam. It is now building a new machine and expanding its premises to be able to turn even larger dimensions.
