JEC COMPOSITES MAGAZINE - Issue #46 - January/February 2009 - 26

BUSINESS Market survey Market developments in woodplastic composites While the global market for wood-plastic composites is expected to register further growth, a marketing effort is needed to increase consumer awareness of their advantages over soft woods. each in Poland, Sweden, Finland and the Netherlands. There are US importers too: Timbertech, Trex, Fiberon, Louisiana Pacific, Correct Deck and Lattitudes. DR SALLY HUMPHREYS, BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT MANAGER, APPLIED MARKET INFORMATION LTD More information Wood-plastic composite (commonly abbreviated as WPC) is a recyclable composite material lumber or timber made of recycled plastic and wood wastes. There are also application in the market, which utilize only virgin raw materials. Its most widespread use is in outdoor deck floors, but it is also used for railings, fences, landscaping timbers, cladding and siding, park benches, molding and trim, window and door frames, and indoor furniture. Manufacturers claim that wood-plastic composite is more environmentally friendly and requires less maintenance than the alternatives of solid wood treated with preservatives or solid wood of rot-resistant species. Resistant to cracking and splitting, these materials can be moulded with or without simulated wood grain details. Even with the wood grain design these materials are still visually easy to distinguish from natural timber as the grains are the same uniform color as the rest of the material. for 72% of production, according to Washington State University (resin breakdown: PE 89%, PP 7%, and PVC 4%). Decking accounts for 70% of all products, followed by railings at 15%. WPC Corp. is a market leader in Japan t the Wood Plastic Composites conference organised by AMI in October 2008 in Vienna, Austria, Jon Nash of Applied Market Information (AMI) announced new growth in the European markets for wood-plastic composites (WPC). The growth includes an increase in sales from Deceuninck, a new plant under construction by UPM Kymmene, and an announcement from Rehau of intent to take leadership in the decking market. According to Wood K Plus, the Austrian research centre for WPC, the German Jon Nash announced new growth market share in the European markets for in decking wood-plastic composites. was 6% for WPC in 2007, compared to tropical wood at 54%. Wood K Plus has been interviewing lead potential users to find new applications. One concept is multifunctional children’s furniture, with interlocking modules similar to Lego. A Different types of application. A growing market Silvadec, a leading European producer of WPC decking, estimates that there are 22 deck manufacturers in Europe. Six of these are in Germany, five in Belgium, four each in France and the UK, and one According to PVC manufacturer SolVin, there is a European trend towards increased use of PVC in wood-plastic composites. The company provided the following 2006 figures for Europe: PP , 74%; PVC, 14%; recyclate, 8%; and PE, 4% (by contrast, recycled PE was the traditional material used in the United States). SolVin has put out a new PVC resin (SolVin® X60SW) with higher gelation speed, reduced head pressure and no reduction in torque. In North America, there are 25 WPC manufacturers and the top five account 26 jec composites magazine / No46 January-February 2009

JEC COMPOSITES MAGAZINE - Issue #46 - January/February 2009

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of JEC COMPOSITES MAGAZINE - Issue #46 - January/February 2009