MEXICO - It is estimated that over the next 12 to 18 months three new MDF plants will start production in Mexico with a combined capacity of about 680 000 m3 per year.

The jump is significant considering that it is estimated that Mexican production of particleboard / MDP and MDF reached 645 000 m3 in 2014, with 95% of this production being particleboard / MDP, given the very limited current production capacity of MDF in the country. According to analysts this expansion in MDF capacity marks the beginning of what could become a prolonged growth period for the wood panel industry in Mexico.

Mexico, Wood Based Panels

Thousand m3

The enormous potential that exists in Mexico for board production can be illustrated with the Brazilian case. In the last 10 years the consumption of boards per thousand inhabitants in Brazil went from 20.9 to 37.8 m3 (+ 80.9%) an increase of 16.9 m3 per thousand inhabitants. Meanwhile installed capacity for boards in Brazil went from 3.8 million m3 in 2006 to 7.5 million m3 in 2014. It can be estimated that if the Mexican panel industry can materialize a good portion of its potential in the coming 10 years, by reaching a per capita consumption of 18m3 per thousand inhabitants (Brazil 2014: 37.8 m3) the market would require 2.2 million m3 of board product, almost three times present consumption and four times current production.

Wood Based Panels, Mexico - Brazil Comparison

Thousand m3

* Estimated. ** m3 Per 1000 population

Source: worldometers.info / IBA / en.wikipedia.org

The major constraint to a marked expansion in Mexico’s panel industry capacity has to do with the availability of wood to feed the industrial plants that manufacture boards. It is therefore in the respective Mexican authorities scope to structure incentives for private investment in the forestry sector as to ensure in time, the proper availability of wood to be processed by panel manufacturers.

Mexico, Apparent Consumption Wood Based Panels

* Estimated

Source: WBPI/Bernard Fuller