Pfeifer Group has large investment plans across business

28 February 2022


Austria-based sawmiller and engineered timber products manufacturer Pfeifer Group is celebrating the 30th year of its Uelzen site in Germany with large investment plans.

The sawmill, which was founded in 1992, will see its log yard completely renovated and the cutting capacity increased to around 800,000m3.

By 2024, new plants for waste wood recycling and pelleting will also be built there, among other things. The new pellet plant will have a capacity of 120,000 tons/year, increasing the amount of chips which can be processed at the Uelzen site in the future. 

“With these investment steps, the plant in Uelzen will be secured in the long term and adapted to new requirements and market trends,” explained Pfeifer. 

The additional quantities of packaging timber and pressboard pallet blocks support the growth of the packaging division at Pfeifer, which operates under the name Euroblock. 

With the additional pellet plant, Pfeifer is underpinning its leading role in the rapidly growing market for biofuels and is making an important contribution to the ‘energy transition’ in Germany.

The sawmill was originally operated by Heggenstaller but acquired by Pfeifer in 2005. 

Pfeifer Group is tackling a massive expansion and modernization programme at its other sites as well. The implementation will take place step by step until 2024 with a goal of attaining long-term security for packaging, pallet blocks and packaging timber made of pine.

The Pfeifer Group has 2,100 employees at eight locations in Austria, Germany and the Czech Republic. Around 4 million solid cubic meters of wood are cut every year in the group's fully integrated sawmills and processed along the entire value chain into sawn and planed timber, concrete formwork panels, formwork beams, cross laminated timber (CLT), glued laminated timber, glued solid wood panels as well as pallet blocks, briquettes, pellets and bio-electricity.