Page 32 - FDMAsia SepOct 2025

30 FOCUS SEP/OCT 2025 FDM ASIA | www.fdmasia.com

NegativeSpace panels and products thereof for the first time. In addition to
The new national Standard clearly defines wood-based

classification, the new national Standard has also changed
the formaldehyde emission limit to a grading requirement,

uniformly using E0 and E1 grades as the judgment criteria.
At the same time the testing methods were standardised
and a ‘small lab method’ was added in the production quality
control process making the detection and management more
scientific and rigorous.

At the end of June this year 298 particleboard manufacturing EU
enterprises across the country had 323 particleboard production EU Commission determines dumping by Chinese
lines distributed in 22 provinces (municipalities and autonomous hardwood plywood manufacturers

regions) with a total production capacity of 66.76 million cubic EU domestic plywood manufacturers called for an anti-dumping
metres per year, a net annual increase of 2.61 million cubic metres. investigation of Chinese hardwood plywood imports.
Among them, there were 149 continuous flat pressure lines The complaint against China was made last year on
with a combined production capacity of 49.51 million cubic behalf of the EU hardwood plywood manufacturing sector
metres per year and the proportion of total panel production by the Greenwood Consortium, which, according to evidence
capacity rose to 74 percent over the same period of 2024. collected by the Commission, was supported by producers
The particleboard industry shows a trend of a slight decline accounting for more than 25 percent of hardwood plywood

in the number of enterprises and production lines as well as production in the EU.
a slowdown in the growth of total production capacity. Details of the EU Commission’s investigation which led
There are 23 particleboard production lines under construction to the subsequent imposition of the preliminary duties on
across the country with a combined production capacity of hardwood plywood from China from 11 June this year are
7.05 million cubic metres per year. The risk of overheated contained in Implementing Regulation (EU) 2025/1139 of 6
investment in the particleboard industry still exists. June 2025.
The EU Commission investigation concluded that EU
Strict Standard on formaldehyde emission limits production of hardwood plywood fell 11% from 1,872,902
The State Administration for Market Regulation recently issued cubic metres in 2021 to 1,664,963 cubic metres during the

a new national standard for wood-based panels, GB 18580- period 1 July 2023 to 30 June 2024.
2025, "Formaldehyde Emission Limits for Indoor Decoration and It determined that the “Union industry was unable to
Renovation Materials – Wood-based Panel and its Products". benefit from the exclusion of Russian and Belarusian hardwood
This comes into effect on 1 June 2026 and replaces GB plywood on the Union market.
18580-2017. To the contrary, it was forced to reduce its production
The new standard incorporates E0 and E1 grade standards starting in the year 2022 because of the increase of Chinese
into regulatory requirements and further refines the classification imports (+32% in 2022, +10% in 2023 and + 16% in the

and testing methods for wood-based panel. The formaldehyde investigation period) sold at dumped prices.”
limit indicators have become stricter. The EU Commission investigation further concludes that