A Thai palm oil manufacturer has made the first step into the panels business by ordering a Dieffenbacher particleboard plant.
SPO Agriculture Industries Co Ltd decided to diversify into panels because of the proximity of rubberwood plantations, a key timber for producing boards, to its mills in Surat Thani. Its new venture is called SPB.
Dieffenbacher will supply a complete 505m3 per day capacity particleboard line with a 15.8mx8ft continuous press. Other key equipment includes an energy generation plant, which will process waste from the particleboard line and SPO’s three palm oil mills.
SPB will be the first panel manufacturer in Asia to use waste from palm oil mills, which is expected to give the company a competitive advantage in terms of production costs.
The new factory will start production towards the end of 2005.
