21 minute read
Special Top Belgian companies focused on export
THE NUMBER OF SAWMILLS CONTINUES TO FALL
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Stefaan Vandecasteele (Vandecasteele Houtimport - B)
‘Our goal: From 2025, we aim to trade only in certified wood.’
Vandecasteele Houtimport, based in Aalbeke near Kortrijk, is a major player in the Belgian timber industry. It is a family business now in its fifth generation and it imports timber and timber products from over 45 countries worldwide. The company specialises in the import, trade, and export of tropical hardwood from Africa, South-East Asia, and Latin America. The company also supplies Scandinavian and Russian softwood, Siberian larch, North American soft and hardwood, and European hardwood.
The company was founded in 1883 by Louis Vandecasteele and has passed from generation to generation to its present owner Stefaan Vandecasteele, so this company from Aalbeke has booked years of experience and life has been anything but dull. On the country, this company, now almost 140 years old, has proven itself to be a master in adapting constantly to an ever rapidly changing industry. Obviously, the company focuses on its customers and is also strongly committed to sustainability. They are even aiming to supply only certified wood by 2025.
Gaining and maintaining trust
How has Vandecasteele Houtimport managed over the years? Floor Forum International interviewed owner Stefaan Vandecasteele and opened the discussion with perhaps the most important question of all: How have you managed to gain and maintain customer trust for all those years?
Stefaan Vandecasteele explains: ‘Actually, it’s quite simple. We strive for partnerships with both customers and suppliers and everything stands or falls with the mutual trust of all the parties concerned. Those customers consist of wood importers, wood traders, and industrial joiners. 50% of them are located in Belgium and 50% in the rest of Europe, although our major export countries are our neighbours: France, the Netherlands, the UK, Germany, and the Scandinavian countries. Customers can consult our stock through our online portal and place orders. We provide the transport or prepare the parcels ready for collection.’
‘One of our strengths is our flexibility. We can quickly respond to the market needs thanks to our own fleet of 17 vehicles. Due to our great stock holding, we can deliver various species of timber from Africa, the Far East, Russia, and Latin and North America within a few days. This makes us the first choice of many importers and traders. We also have an extensive storage facility on 20 hectares of land where we stock over 120,000m³ of timber.'
Investing for the future
We’ve noticed a lot of investments this year at Vandecasteele Houtimport. For instance, they have purchased no fewer than 17 new Volvo lorries with Volvo Connect tracking system, five new side loaders (one of them fully electric), and 10 new trailers. Furthermore, the rack system has been extended and is now 7.5km long.
‘And there’s more,’ Stefaan Vandecasteele continues. ‘We’ve also invested in new IT instruments in order to make our due diligence more robust.
We’ve also said that the company attaches great importance to sustainability and the environment. ‘We’re not only committed to nature and certified wood, our stockholding of hardwoods and softwoods is coupled with strong environmental credentials (FSC®, PEFC, OLB, NCLS, …) We have set a challenging goal to only trade in certified timbers from 2025.
At the moment, all our softwood is certified, as is over 60% of the tropical hardwood. This figure is growing constantly and makes us the biggest stockist of certified tropical timber in Europe. For instance, we have over 120 different species in stock, something which is huge service in these days of shortage. For each purchase we have a team of colleagues who verify the legality of the timber and each parcel is checked on arrival for quality, quantity, etc.’
Charter for Sustainable Enterprise and the SDG PIONEER certificate
‘Maybe the best illustration of our quest for sustainability is how we use the Charter for Sustainable Enterprise as an instrument to strive for perfection. This charter helps us reinforce our standards and values, which can then serve as an example for other companies. Since the year 2000 Vandecasteele Houtimport has committed itself through the Corporate Sustainability Charter by signing up to environmental objectives exceeding applicable environmental legislation.'
The Charter has evolved over the years from the Environmental Charter, over the Sustainable Entrepreneurship Charter (2008) to the Voka Sustainable Entrepreneurship Charter (2018) with the integration of the 17 United Nations Sustainability Goals.
This year, Vandecasteele Houtimport has achieved the Charter for the 20th time in a row which makes Vandecasteele one of the few laureates who participated for 20 consecutive years and successfully completed the trajectory. All the initiatives are linked to the 17 sustainable development goals of the United Nations. A good annual assessment ultimately yields an annual certificate of the Voka Sustainable Business Charter. When the final balance is positive after three years, and companies have elaborated at least one action in each SDG, companies receive the internationally recognized Unitar-SDG Pioneer certificate.
Vandecasteele Houtimport is the first timber company in the world to have obtained the Unitar- SDG Pioneer Award!
If we summarise this briefly, we have to use the expression long-term vision.
Stefaan Vandecasteele concludes: ‘That’s precisely what it’s all about. With every step we take, we have future objectives in mind. We are striving to become European market leader in the trade of the widest range of certified timber which originates from well managed forests. In doing so, we want to maximise the social, economic, and ecological value of wood now and in the future where the use of wood as a sustainable building and construction material has to be quite normal. After all, wood is the most ecological and sustainable material that you can find!’
www.vandecasteele.be
Choose life, Choose wood
Photo © Dieter Dejonghe
2025 – our aim is to trade in Certifi ed timber only from 2025 onwards Using timber tackles climate change
Using timber is good Using certifi ed timber is wonderful
Contact
Bergstraat 25 8511 Aalbeke België vandecasteele.be genevieve@vandecasteele.be +32 56 43 33 00 dave@vandecasteele.be +44 15 94 83 43 32
In recent months, we’ve been bombarded with rising raw material prices. Moreover, wood has become one of the most notably expensive raw materials. Sawmills form a specific component within the woodwork industry. How are they getting on at the moment? In recent months, the Belgian Wood Confederation and the technical wood information centre Hout Info Bois have conducted a survey within the sawmill sector. They wanted to found out not only about activities in the sawmills, but also about tendencies and trends in the short and long terms.
Both parties interviewed staff from about half of the 95 sawmills in Belgium (32 in Flanders and 63 in Wallonia). They covered a good spread of the various sawmill types (hardwood, softwood, and a mix) and the summary included all the biggest production units. All this yielded a representative sample.
Falling number of sawmills
The first finding did not come as a surprise, namely that the number of sawmills in Belgium continues to fall both in Flanders and Wallonia. The total consumption of round wood in the sector is also still falling, from 3.7 million cubic metres in 2010 (3.3 million cubic metres of softwood and 370,000 cubic metres of hardwood) to about 2.9 million cubic metres in 2021 (2.7 million cubic metres of softwood and 217,000 cubic metres of hardwood). And so, in terms of production the disappearance of smaller sawmills is not being offset by an increasing capacity in the bigger sawmills.
What we notice is that in Belgium about 217,000 cubic metres of hardwood is sawn per annum, two thirds of it in Flanders. More than half of the total volume of sawn hardwood is poplar (also mainly in Flanders), followed by oak. Poplar wood is sold mainly as packaging wood (e.g. for pallets or crates), whilst oak is sold mainly to (Belgian) joiners and timber traders. It is noticeable that the lion’s share of hardwood round wood comes from Belgium itself. Nevertheless, sawmills are increasingly looking abroad for their stocks. Over a period of 10 years, foreign purchases have risen from 11% to 41%. Sawing of softwood
2.7 million cubic metres of softwood are sawn in Belgium, 93% of it in Wallonia. It is noted that, as in the past, the vast majority of it consists of spruce (all the more so in times of bark beetle crisis), but that the share of douglas wood is increasing regularly. About two thirds of the softwood product is sold to building companies or other companies in the second round of processing (e.g. for pallets or packaging), whilst 30% goes to timber traders.
With purchases, we notice in comparison with 2010 an increase in the portion of stems from abroad (45% in 2020 as opposed to 20% in 2010). This is probably a result of the bark beetle crisis, with large volumes of affected trees from Germany and France.
Lessons from the survey
The Belgian Wood Confederation has drawn a number of conclusions from the survey, but we won’t mention all of them here: - Despite the good period for Belgian sawmills during the final few months of 2020 and the first half of 2021, the sector still faces major uncertainties. Recent conditions should not be allowed to conceal the real structural problems in the sector. - In particular, the uncertainty surrounding round wood stocks is causing sawmills concern. - Since 92.6% of the total volume of round wood sawn by sawmills consists for 3.9% of poplar and for 2.8% of oak, it is essential that forestry policy takes account of the reality of sawmills and the needs of the local timber industry. - It is perfectly possible to meet the demands of woodworkers and the market via modern forestry technology in a context of climate change. - There is a need for a support framework to ensure the supplies of
Belgian sawmills. - It appears that the sector will have to change in two significant ways in the long term: changes regarding available raw produce and changes in consumption habits of end users.
Source: Survey on ‘The sawmill sector’ on the initiative of the Belgian Wood Confederation and Hout Info Bois by Vincent Defays and Andries Saerens.
B-FIX
B-Fix can present over 15 years of experience in invisible fastening systems for terraces and planks and accompanying accessories. B-Fix is the fruit of years of expertise in fitting wooden terraces and outdoor woodwork in general. The most important product is the B-Fix invisible fastening system, a universal system deployed for a whole range of wood sorts and composites. The company steers a consistent course thanks to product innovations and expansion into new markets. B-Fix employs six people on the payroll, but, apart from them, several other people are involved in the activities. The sheltered workshop, which concentrates on packing, is an integral part of the projects. Each year, the company completes several hundred thousands of square metres and the capacity leaves room for growth. Innovation is an ongoing concern. As regards exports, they concentrate mainly at present on the United States, the Scandinavian countries, Greece, Germany, and the Middle East. +32 (0) 10 40 07 90 - info@b-fix.be - www.b-fix.be
Parquet and laminate are growing, but growth will slow down.
What is the position exactly with the wooden flooring market and, by extension, also the ‘related’ floor laminate in Belgium? Statistics from FEP (European Federation of the Parquet Industry) and the EPLF (Association of European Producers of Laminate Flooring) provide some clarification. It is striking that both parquet and laminate have done more than adequately despite the pandemic.
During the 45th parquet congress in Athens on 21 October this year, the FEP announced that the consumption of parquet during the first half of 2021 had risen in comparison with the same period a year earlier. The covid 19 measures had little or no effect, but it was certainly clear that the motors of the growth in consumption were renovation works and alterations of houses to prepare them for life after the pandemic. The FEP expects that the growth will slow down during the second half of 2021. The biggest problems at this moment are stock problems and a shortage of trained workers.
There are no figures about the exact growth specifically for Belgium, but it is interesting to make a comparison with two of our neighbouring countries, namely France and Germany. During the first half of 2021, France achieved growth in double figures and there is still growth of 5% as compared to the same period in 2019. German consumption of parquet rose by 8 to 10% during the first half of 2021 as compared to the same period a year earlier. During the third quarter of 2021, there were some clear signs that the growth had slowed down. For 2020, the EPLF has also announced increases in the sale of laminate, but they are less spectacular. In general, there was growth of 2.74% worldwide as compared to 2019. Figures were not yet available for the first half of 2021, but in view of the fact that the pandemic almost brought the flooring industry to a complete standstill in the spring of 2020, the announcement of even more growth can be expected.
Looking at the world market, North America recorded the biggest increase in turnover with 22.4% as compared to 2019 and 49.1 million square metres of sales. Another positive trend has developed in Western Europe, where the total sales reached 225.7 million square metres, which represents an increase of 3.6% as compared to 2019. The reasons for the increase which are given are exactly the same as in the parquet sector: On the one hand, there is the popularity of renovation works and, on the other hand, the attraction of DIY projects during the pandemic.
Here, too, no specific figures were given for Belgium, but the growth probably lies between that of neighbouring countries Germany and the Netherlands. Last year, Germany continued to be the strongest laminate market in Europe with a turnover of 52.7 million square metres (+6.1% in comparison with 2019). In the Netherlands turnover rose by 13.8% to 21.1 million square metres of sold floors. The only big country in western Europe where turnover fell was Spain (14.6 million square metres sold, a drop of 12.8%).
Choose life, VANDECASTEELE HOUTIMPORTChoose wood Choose life, Choose wood
Recently added in our range of timbers – European Oak and Beech. Vandecasteele Houtimport - Bergstraat 25 - BE 8511 Aalbeke - Belgium genevieve@vandecasteele.be - dave@vandecasteele.be - www.vandecasteele.be Photo © Dieter Dejonghe
Buying from a responsible supplier responsible supplier makes you a makes you a responsible customer. responsible customer. Visit www.floor-forum.com
YOUR PARTNER IN CERTIFIED TIMBER AMERICAN TEMPERATE HARDWOODS & CLEAR GRADE SOFTWOODS TROPICAL HARDWOODS EUROPEAN HARDWOODS & SOFTWOODS SIBERIAN LARCH THERMOTREATED TIMBER VANDECASTEELE HOUTIMPORT IS A TRADITIONAL FAMILY RUN BUSINESS. STRONG ENVIRONMENTAL CREDENTIALS (FSC® - PEFC – OLB - ..) ARE OF PARAMOUNT IMPORTANCE TO THE SUSTAINABILITY OF THE BUSINESS. We specialize in the import and distribution of softwoods and hardwoods from around the world and offer our customers throughout Europe excellent choice, value, availability and service in an ecologically responsible manner in perfect harmony with customers, suppliers and environment.
TRUE WOOD FEEL
RAW EXPERIENCE, TRUE PROTECTION
Bona Traffic HD Raw – Creating ultra matt floors with great durability
BONA
Bona’s head office is located in Malmo, Sweden. The company has offices worldwide in Austria, Belgium, Brazil, China, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Hungary, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Rumania, Singapore, Slovakia, Spain, the United Kingdom (England, Scotland, and Northern Ireland) and the United States. Bona also has five production units worldwide. Bona has a dedicated and enthusiastic team of over 500 workers on a mission ‘To bring out the best in floors.’ Bona’s combination of experience, knowledge, and technology and their 17 international offices give you high performance & safety and durable solutions. Passion, performance, and pioneering have been the main features of Bona ever since the start of their company in 1919. Those are their values which you will see in all that they do, from their products and corporate culture to their sustainable working method. It’s about more than the way in which they run the company; it’s also about their interaction with the rest of the world. Contact Bona Belgium: +32 (0)2 72 12 759 - infobelgium@bona.com www.bona.com - Facebook: Bona Professional Belgium
Bona Traffic HD Raw brings a uniquely true wood experience into the world of lacquered floors. Offering an ultra matt floor surface with a high level of protection, Bona Traffic HD Raw creates a soft haptic feeling of untreated wood.
A pleasure to walk on with high slip safety makes Bona Traffic HD Raw great for homes with both children and pets, as well as commercial floor surfaces. Bona Traffic HD Raw - the raw experience of wood, protected.
CSP ENGINEERING
bona.com/trafficHDraw
CSP Engineering is a developer of smart technology and a constructor of special purpose machines for the wood flooring industry, located in Belgium. With more than 20 years of experience and a strong internal know-how, CSP Engineering became a true specialist in this niche market. CSP Responds to the needs of its customers, follows the trends in the market and provide standard as well as a tailor-made solution in different stages of the production of wood flooring elements. Caring about a personal and customer-focused service, is why CSP involves its customers in every phase of the project, always happy to help finding the right solution. This approach and its open mind for new developments, makes that customers come to CSP Engineering spontaneous to discuss their challenges and future needs, which leads to new ideas, new opportunities and new developments. From the foundation of the company until 2008, CSP Engineering laid a solid foundation with the development and construction of special machines and automation in the wood industry in general. Its sales area was mainly Belgium, the Netherlands and France. Subsequently, CSP Engineering started to specialize in the development and construction of specific machines for niches in the parquet industry. PARScan® and PAR-Duo® were developed and successfully marketed. In 2014, when the development of PAR-Filler® (automatic machine for filling knots and cracks in wooden floorboards) was successfully completed, a new chapter started for this Belgian company. CSP Engineering went international. One PAR-Filler® machine after another was built. Barely 4 years later, CSP Engineering had customers from Northern to Southern Europe. Based on the in-house knowledge and experience, new insights and market demand, PAR-Filler® Mono and PAR-Filler® Duplex were developed, each tailored to a specific production capacity. With these new types, CSP Engineering is looking beyond the borders of the EU. The first projects for a number of Canadian parquet manufacturers are planned for 2022 and it appears there is a major interest in those regions. As a niche specialist for the development of specific solutions for the parquet sector, CSP Engineering has, in addition to automatic filling machines, solutions for the production of 2-layer floor parts and a range of modular automation building blocks. The Kempen company also offers various solutions for the automatic measuring, labelling, packing and stacking of parquet. With a clear vision to the future, people are working hard on new innovations. More on this soon … +32 (0) 14 37 77 52 - www.csp-engineering.com - sales@csp-engineering.com
DEVOMAT INDUSTRIES
Devomat Industries was founded on 8 February 1980, and started developing the Woodboy® machine and related products. A system that quickly became a great success, with a brand name that has almost become a household name. Over the years, Devomat Industries has continued to develop and today mainly serves the professional market with a full range of primers, adhesives, oils, lacquers, maintenance products, machines, abrasives and accessories for parquet and plank- flooring. The core activity of Devomat Industries is the development and commercialisation of "Devo® - Professional Floor Products", a full range of machines, abrasives and products for the installation and finishing of parquet floors and the maintenance of all types of floors. Devo's main products are Lignum Pura: the invisible wood protection, High Solid Oil: a high performance single layer oil, Master 3D: the efficient 3-disc machine, and after 40 years still the Woodboy machine. Devomat has 14 employees at the head office for sales and distribution in Belgium. Recently, Devomat Industries launched the new parquet sanders Devo Belt MC 200 and Devo Speed XS 150 and XS 150. Technical innovations have been implemented on the Devo Master 3D. In 2018, Devo Turbo Fiberpad caused a shockwave in sanding materials country. At this moment the launch of a new groundbreaking invisible finishing product "Lignum Pura" has started. Export goes to the Netherlands, France, GH-Luxembourg, Germany, Romania, Latvia, and USA. +32 (0) 3 450 94 70 - info@devomat.be - www.devomat.be - www.devonatural.be - www.woodboy.be
KERKHOFS PARKET
Kerkhofs Parket traces its history back to 1993 when just two people did the production. Today, the team comprises 17 people and their capacity is 220,000m² per annum. They can call upon a strong European network based mainly in England and the Netherlands. Kerkhofs Parket manufactures only solid parquet floors. They specialise in producing customised floors or ‘Bespoke Flooring’. Think here of herringbone, Hungarian point, or Viennese point and a huge variety of style panels like Versailles and Chantilly. The most renowned parquet floors are Burgundy, which is 8/9mm thick, and classic Tapis (traditional parquet), with a thickness of 6mm. This year, they’ve teamed up with Vermeister, a specialist in ecological products. Kerkhofs makes a high priority of durability and endeavours to use reclaimed wood. Their partnership with Vermeister helps them to reduce the ecological footprint. Kerkhofs Parket, Ambachtslaan 1013, 3990 Peer, +32 (0) 11 63 64 00 - info@parketkerkhofs.be - www.parketkerkhofs.be
OUTDOOR WOOD CONCEPTS®
Woodface®, original façade solutions from Outdoor Wood Concepts® Outdoor Wood Concepts® launched its Woodface® façade cladding on the market in 2013. This unique solution, in which wood is alternated with aluminium, allows for infinite combinations. Woodface® owes its timeless appeal to designer Roel Vandebeek - #itsaroel. Woodface® was conferred a Henri Van De Velde label in 2014 and selected by Designregio Kortrijk as one of the region’s 50 most innovative products. Thanks to Woodface®, every façade is given a distinct #itsaroel stamp: - A pronounced vertical interplay of lines - A sense of rhythm and texture thanks to the pattern created by alternating differently shaped wooden profiles - A distinctive contrast between wood and aluminium
The benefits of Woodface® in a nutshell: - A unique combination of 9 wooden and 2 aluminium profiles - Infinite combinations in diverse types of wood - Available in all RAL colours, Qualicoat Seaside finish possible - Technical construction details available - Fire safety rating: Ds2,d0 or Bs3,d0 If you have a concrete project or technical questions, do not hesitate to contact us. + 32 (0) 56 96 71 40 - info@outdoorwoodconcepts.be - www.outdoorwoodconcepts.be
RUBIO MONOCOAT
YOUR PARTNER IN WOOD PROTECTION
BIG AT HOME AND ABROAD Rubio Monocoat is known as a brand with a wide choice of products for wood protection. For colours there are endless options as well. The ‘King of Colours’ became big thanks to the revolutionary technology of molecular binding. Today, the Rubio Monocoat family covers more than 82 countries, with around 300 employees worldwide. Meanwhile, more than 50,000,000 m² of wood is protected and colored with Rubio Monocoat oil every year. Rubio Monocoat offers lots of products for interior, exterior and the industry. The range has been expanded over the years including optional pre-colours and a complete range of maintenance and cleaning products. The top product of the pioneer remains Oil Plus 2C, a still unprecedented oil that colors and protects your interior wood in one single layer. Thanks to the advanced and unique technology of molecular binding, Rubio Monocoat oil guarantees sustainable protection that doesn’t harm the environment and its users (0% VOC), and this in 40 standard colours. In addition, the wood oil Hybrid Wood Protector (20 colours) and the wax cream Rubio WoodCream (27 colours) are the perfect example of innovation and quality for protecting your exterior wood. In need of the right tips & tricks? Or looking for inspiration for your next project? Then be sure to follow our social media channels through @rubiomonocoat or visit our website www.rubiomonocoat.com. +32 (0) 51 30 80 54 - info@rubiomonocoat.com
