28 WESTERN PALLET
MSP Fergus Ewing addresses the TIMCON AGM.
He added that the industry was “essential” to Scotland, and reiterated the Government had firm plans in place to provide a “steady, sustainable supply” of three million cubic metres of timber a year from the national forest estate. Consultation with the industry, he said, has led to action points that would help increase the quantity of timber available in various technical ways.
At the meeting there was also an update on developments in the UK from Confor while Mike Glennon, joint managing director of Glennon Bros, gave the meeting an update on the supply of Irish timber. Glennon described the key challenges affecting the sawmilling sector, which include a production overcapacity of approximately 500,000 cubic meters a year; mobilization of the private estate in Ireland; increasing competition for wood fiber, particularly from the biomass sector; and the high price of logs, which in Ireland over the last five years have been 30% higher.
Deniss Pilcikovs of pallet and pallet collar producer Kronus also gave a presentation entitled Timber packaging: Challenges and opportunities– a view from Europe. This included a look at the issue of availability of sawn timber, which has been affected recently by challenges including forest fires and obstacles to sourcing wood from Russia.