For the first time in its history, Russia began shipping OSB to North America

OSB import to Russia in the 1st quarter of 2017 increased by 76% (YoY) to 68,000 m3. This is the highest level during the last 3 years: 1st quarter of 2014, Russia imported 102,000 m3. 90% of deliveries were made by the Belarusian plant Kronospan (Mogilev), which increased shipments to Russia in the 1st quarter of 2017 by 80% (YoY).

It is worth noting, that Russia starts developing its sales network in non-CIS countries: for the first time, a batch of 700 m3 of Russian OSB was shipped to the USA. The shipments were made by the STOD OSB plant (the Tver region), launched in 2016, with the capacity of 500,000 m3 annually. Total export volume from Russia in the 1st quarter of 2017 decreased by 23% to 14,700 m3.

OSB is a mainly North American product. The global market size is estimated at 26 million m3 annually, at the same time, production and consumption of OSB in North America is approximately 19 million m3 annually, in Europe — about 6 million m3. Sizes of other markets are not significant, though Asian manufacturers are beginning to be interested in OSB.

Test deliveries of OSB from Russia in the 1st quarter of 2017 were also shipped to Europe: Belgium, Italy, Poland.

More on “OSB market in Russia in 2016-2017” read in our latest review.