Raw materials from SCA become IKEA furniture - SCA Forest ...

timbernews
A magazine for SCA’s solid wood products customers | www.timber.sca.com
42007
Raw materials from SCA
become IKEA furniture
• Production adapted
to market conditions
• Focus on components
cuts customer costs
• Swedish spruce protects
Danish Christmas trees

timber news
Dick Bergh, president of
Hedlunda Industri AB, Lycksele, Sweden.
Cover photo: Michael Engman
SCA Timber to
scale down production
3
Raw materials from SCA
become IKEA furniture
6
Strategeic move towards
more component production
8
Flying start to 2008
10
Pressure on the solid wood
products market
11
Spruce from SCA protects
Danish Christmas trees
12
SCA Timber, SCA’s solid wood
operation, covers eight sawmills and
six planing mills. The total annual volume
of solid wood products amounts
to 1.8 million cubic metres.
Solid wood operations are included in
SCA’s Forest Products business area.
TimberNews SCA Forest Products AB
SE-851 88 Sundsvall
tel +46 60 19 30 00
www.timber.sca.com
Timber News is published
four times a year
Editor-in-chief Björn Lyngfelt
Production Fryklunds
Repro & printing Tryckeribolaget
Subscribe to Timber News, please
contact ingrid.lofqvist@sca.com
We all benefit from
a stable market
In many ways, 2007 will be seen as a record
year for both SCA Timber and the entire solid
wood products industry. We have enjoyed
record-breaking levels of production and deliveries,
resulting in a record-breaking profit.
The reason for this upturn is the boom currently
being experienced by the majority of
our most important markets. Construction
activity is high. Huge demand for raw materials,
especially from Asia, has forced up the prices of
competing materials such as steel, plastic and aluminium,
making solid wood products cheaper by
comparison.
Last year, and during the first six months of
2007, the market was characterised by a lack of
solid wood products of a Nordic origin. Customers
have submitted their orders well in advance in
order to be sure they get the products they need.
They have also taken a long-term view due to the
major risk of prices going even higher.
The positive character of the solid wood products
market has encouraged sawmill companies to
increase production. Access to raw materials was
proving to be a limiting factor, but storm felling
and record-high sawlog prices have led to a glut of
raw materials becoming available, and to production
increasing substantially.
We reached an equilibrium during August. Sawmill
stocks began to increase and customers came
to the realisation that products would be available
when they needed them and that, in all probability,
they would not get any more expensive. If customers
go from ordering two months in advance to
ordering one month in advance, the effects are
quite dramatic.
That’s why SCA Timber is now trying to adapt
to market conditions. We’re scaling down production,
mainly during the first quarter. Ideally, this
move will focus on production based on imported
raw materials, which are expensive and don’t
always satisfy the quality requirements our customers
impose on their products. In addition,
notification we have received concerning export
duty and other obstacles have cast doubt on the
extent to which imported sawlogs will be available
in the future.
Ulf Larsson, president of SCA Timber.
Photo: Per-Anders Sjöquist
We will continue to develop our sawmills, but we
will do so using raw materials we can obtain from
the region, an approach that fits in well with our
product range and the quality requirements of our
customers.
Not only is it in our interests to have production
in balance with demand, it is also in the interests
of our customers. We will continue to develop the
collaborative relationship we have with our customers,
to develop products that meet their requirements
and, by working closely with them,
increase the value of those products and slash the
costs of the supply chain. A disjointed market
with massive price fluctuations and periods when
it is difficult to obtain products benefits neither us
nor our customers. Ploughing time and resources
into ensuring that products are available one
month and being on the hunt for low prices the
next, takes away the focus from our most
important business – ensuring that the wood
becomes a product for an end customer.
That is the business that we must work together
to develop. The potential for wood to take market
shares from other materials, and to find other areas
of use, is good. Together, we must find ways of
exploiting this potential to its fullest extent.
Ulf Larsson
President, SCA Timber
timbernews | 2

SCA Timber to scale down production
SCA Timber is set to implement a series of measures that will
reduce its production of sawn solid wood products by almost 15
percent during the first quarter of 2008 compared to this year’s
production level. In addition to production cutbacks at the Munksund
and Rundvik sawmills, all sawmills will stop for an extended
break over Christmas and New Year. A ban on overtime will also be
implemented.
“
For the past two years, demand
for solid wood products in
our product segments has
outstripped supply,” says Ulf Larsson,
president of SCA Timber.
“Although the underlying consumption
of wood products remains
high, an exceptionally high
level of production in the sawmills
in Scandinavia and on the continent
is acting as the catalyst for
many customers to play a waiting
game when placing their orders.”
Once Munksund Sawmill adapts its production level to the availability of domestic raw material, one of the
sawmill’s two trimming mills will be decommissioned.
Photo: Per Pettersson
In order to adapt production to
the prevailing level of demand,
SCA Timber has decided to scale
back its production. At Munksund
Sawmill outside Piteå in
northern Sweden, the older of the
two trimming mills is being shut
down, reducing production by
40,000 cubic metres of pine solid
wood products. At Rundvik Sawmill,
production is being reduced
by some 70,000 cubic metres of
spruce solid wood products. These
cutbacks will see the number of
people employed at Munksund
fall by ten, whilst Rundvik will
see a drop of just over 20.
“Munksund and Rundvik have
both been partially supplied with
imported sawlogs,” says Larsson.
“The price of this raw material
has increased dramatically and
we believe that in the future it will
constitute an unreliable and
unpredictable raw materials base,
both in terms of availability and
cost. That’s why we’ve come to
the decision to phase out the use
of imported raw materials and to
base the future development of
our sawmill operations on raw
materials we can obtain within
the region. We’re endeavouring to
increase our procurement of sawlogs
from sources in northern
➔
3 | timbernews

“We’re focusing on strengthening our in-house sawlog procurement
organisation, ensuring that we’ll be well equipped
once the order landscape becomes stable again,” says Anders
Nordmark, sawmill manager at Munksund.
Photo: Per Nilsson
Sten Olov Andersson, sawmill manager at Rundvik, believes
that it is important to increase the procurement of raw materials
from northern Sweden.
Sweden as it is a raw material that
fits both our range of products
and the stringent quality demands
of our customers.”
In addition to these cutbacks,
SCA Timber will be stopping production
in all sawmills over the
Christmas and New Year holidays.
Furthermore, a ban on overtime
or other non-standard operating
times will also be introduced.
Taken together, these measures
will reduce production levels by
almost 15 percent, equivalent to
55,000 cubic metres, during the
first quarter.
“We’re implementing these measures
quickly to adapt to what we
believe to be a temporary period
of uncertainty in the market,” says
Larsson. “Consumption of solid
wood products is high and competing
materials have increased
significantly more in price in
recent years. In my opinion, we
will soon have a stable order
book and market prices will have
settled down, benefiting both
customers and producers in the
long term.”
Rundvik is one of the two sawmills
to be most affected by the
changes. In the past two years,
demand for the sawmill’s products
has sky-rocketed. Large volumes
of solid wood products have
been supplied to customers in
Scandinavia, France, the Netherlands
and the UK. The sawmill’s
planing facility has sold almost
70,000 cubic metres of processed
solid wood products to Home
Depot and other customers in the
US.
“The facility in Rundvik has
therefore been pushed to the limit,”
claims Sten Olov Andersson, sawmill
manager at Rundvik. “We’ve
been running an extra shift and
have operated at full production
for the entire summer to keep up
with the demand for our products.
We’ve even introduced a nightshift
to cope with demand.”
At present, production at Rundvik
stands at around 240,000
cubic metres of spruce sawn solid
wood products, of which 80,000
cubic metres are planed. The sawmill
employs around 140 people,
including contractors.
However, in the last 12 months
the sawmill has been periodically
affected by production disruption
caused by difficulties in acquiring
sufficient volumes of raw material.
It has been possible to maintain
a substantial proportion of
the production increase of recent
years by increasing the amount of
sawlogs imported from Russia.
However, the recent explosion in
Russian export tariffs means that it
is no longer economically viable to
continue to rely on sawlogs from
that part of the world.
“At the moment, duty on sawlogs
from Russia stands at € 10
per cubic metre. In April next year,
that figure will rise to € 15, and
on 1 January 2009 it will be € 50
per cubic metre,” says Andersson.
“That will close the woodshed
door permanently.”
Once the import of Russian sawlogs
has been phased out, production
of sawn solid wood products
will be reduced by 70,000 cubic
metres to 170,000 cubic metres.
This will also see production move
from a three-shift rotation to a
two-shift rotation during 2008.
“Unfortunately, we will also
be forced to let 20 or so people
go, something that will naturally
be a blow to those affected,” says
Andersson, emphasising that the
cutbacks are being undertaken
from a production level that has
not been exceeded at any time
during the past 30 years.
Munksund sawmill has also announced
that it will be implementing
production cutbacks, starting
at the beginning of the new year.
“Throughout this year, we’ve
experienced major problems in
getting our hands on sufficient a-
mounts of raw material,” says saw-
timbernews | 4

mill manager Anders Nordmark.
This year, Munksund has produced
approximately 400,000
cubic metres of pine solid wood
product and employs 130 people.
The amount of custom and processed
products leaving the mill
stands at 200,000 cubic metres. Its
most important markets are Scandinavia,
the UK, Japan and Italy.
“We get almost 30,000 cubic
metres of pine raw material by
boat from Russia, which we are
now in the process of phasing
out,” says Nordmark. ”Replacing
this much wood with raw material
sourced in the local region in the
short term is difficult.”
the availability of domestic raw
materials, reducing output by approximately
40,000 cubic metres,
the older of the sawmill’s two
trimming mills is being decommissioned.
This means that ten
people will be made redundant.
“We’re now focusing on
strengthening our in-house sawlog
procurement organisation, ensuring
that we’ll be well equipped
once the order landscape becomes
stable again,” says Nordmark in
summary.
Mats Wigardt
Once the import of sawlogs from Russia is phased out, the
production of sawn solid wood products at Rundvik will be
reduced. This will see the current three-shift rotation being
replaced by a two-shift rotation during 2008.
Photo: Bo Fernström
In conjunction with adapting the
production level at Munksund to
5 | timbernews

Transforming SCA raw materials into
IKEA furniture
For more than 20 years, Hedlunda Industri of Lycksele,
northern Sweden, has supplied pine furniture
to IKEA. In order to meet increased demand, a
further £3.8 million has been ploughed into new
production equipment. One of the company’s important
collaboration partners is SCA, which provides
close to 40 percent of the raw materials used.
Coming onto the workshop
floor at Hedlunda Industri is
like paying a visit to Santa’s
grotto.
At one end of the massive factory
space, sawn pine timber from
sources such as SCA’s sawmills in
Munksund and Bollstabruk is
unloaded from the loading bay.
More than 130,000 linear metres
– around 500 cubic metres – pass
through the cutting line every
week, all cut to precise specifications.
Short pieces are finger
joined to suitable lengths – almost
nothing is wasted.
The raw material is then processed
further by skilled craftsmen
who plane, drill, surface treat and
pack, resulting in a range of pine
shelving and beds. The products
are shipped to IKEA stores in
Sweden, the US, Europe and the
rest of the world.
“Obviously, we’re regarded as
being fairly competitive,” says factory
manager Anders Persson, who
acts as our guide around the workshop.
The factory is a fast-paced environment.
Many of the machines
used have been specially built onsite
to replace heavy and labour
intensive processes. One machine
screws and glues bed sides, a
second machine fits the rails to
a shelf and attaches a packet of
screws, whilst a third screws 62
screws into a bed end.
“That was something that used
to be done by hand,” says Persson.
“The guys who had that job didn’t
need to go to the gym after
work!”
Given the large volumes and
small margins associated with this
type of work, it is important to
employ a carefully considered flow
in the manufacturing process.
According to Persson, he really
had to rack his brains before he
could finally implement a process
that satisfied the stringent precision
and quality requirements
imposed by customers.
“And we’re going to get better
and faster,” he assures us.
On a slow-moving conveyor belt,
flat packs are filled with finished
components. Not one single pack
of screws may be forgotten. The
furniture is test assembled at regular
intervals to ensure that there
are no defects.
“One of the packs contains
timbernews | 6

around 40 different components,”
says Persson. “The entire system is
based on ensuring that no component
ends up in the wrong place.”
Finished packs are then driven
out by forklift to the warehouse
before being shipped out to destinations
across the world. Every
day, five railway wagons are filled
with furniture from Hedlunda
Industri, as well as a number of
trucks. The railway line runs all
the way to the integrated loading
bay and was built solely for this
purpose.
“Logistics is one of our strong
suits,” says Persson, moving out
of the way of fully loaded truck
heading for the open door of the
railway wagon.
Compared to the hive of activity
out on the factory floor, the office
is a much more tranquil environment.
Dick Bergh, together with a
partner, set up the factory in Lycksele
back in 1984. From the outset,
IKEA was an important collaborative
partner. Since then, the
business has gradually grown and
developed and now employs 95
people with a turnover of £11.5
million. Hedlunda Industri is now
a family-run company, with Dick
Bergh as its president and his two
sons, Jonas and Mathias, as partners.
“We recently signed a long-term
agreement with IKEA that will see
us invest another £3.8 million in
the business up until 2012,” says
Bergh. “We’ll also be increasing
our staff to approximately 160
employees.”
More efficient planing lines,
increased finishing capacity, automation
of production and mechanising
the packing process are just
a few of the measures that will be
implemented. In addition, the company
will also extend its organisation
and acquire leading-edge
expertise in production technology
and logistics.
“IKEA is an incredibly straighttalking
customer,” continues Bergh.
“They know what they want, when
they want it and how they want it.
It’s then just up to us to deliver on
our promises.”
The expansion of Hedlunda
Industri will also have consequences
for the volume of raw
materials required. Bergh has
held discussions with a number of
sawmills, including SCA’s mills in
Munksund and Bollstabruk, with
the aim of doubling their current
“The majority of our raw materials
requirement will be satisfied by SCA,”
says Dick Bergh, president of
Hedlunda Industri AB in Lycksele.
supply. The longer-term aim is also
to be able to buy more processed
products from the sawmills.
“We see our collaborative relationship
with SCA as one that is
fundamentally sound and can be
built on for the long term,” summarises
Bergh. “This means that
the majority of our raw materials
requirement, around 40 percent,
will be satisfied by SCA.”
Mats Wigardt
Photo: Michael Engman
Company facts:
Founded on
2 January 1986
Family-owned since 2003
Biggest customer is IKEA
President: Dick Bergh
Turnover: £11.5 million
95 Employees
News: About to embark on
a £3.8 million investment
programme
www.hedlunda-industri.se
The company manufactures shelving and beds that are then sold by IKEA throughout the world.
7 | timbernews

Strategeic move towards
more component production
For SCA Timber, product development is a strategic
objective. Traditional sawn timber in standard
Nordic grades and multiple lengths will gradually
be phased out and replaced by specialised timber
for industry – or have value added by being turned
into finished products for builder’s merchants.
The component line investment
project recently rolled out at
Tunadal sawmill echoes company
strategy. The new line will
have a capacity of approximately
30,000 cubic metres of door and
window shutter components. The
line will come online in May 2008,
the plan being to reach full capacity
sometime in the autumn of that
year.
Components are nothing new
to SCA Timber. In recent years,
we have gradually built up both
our knowledge and supply. SCA
Timber is already the largest Scandinavian
supplier of developed
timber (including components) to
French industry. Ongoing investment
will enable us to further
increase the volume of these components
and at the same time
lower the production cost.
In 2006, the volume of components
sold into France doubled,
reaching approximately 11,000
cubic metres. This growth has continued
during 2007 into approximately
18,000 cubic metres. Our
goal for autumn 2009 is to get at
least 30,000 cubic metres from the
new line.
A move from sawn timber into
components can only be successful
if it can be shown to benefit
the customer. The aim is to make
investments and other changes
in order to reduce the total costs
involved in the supply chain.
Customers can use their resources,
capital and expertise in order
to focus on growing their businesses
in the marketplace. Suppliers
will solve the problems and
challenges associated with timber
production.
SCA Timber will guarantee the
supply of custom made components,
supported by backup
stocks and service at our French
terminals. On-line administrative
solutions are available to track
product availability and production
status in the supply pipeline.
Continuous development, of
products and services, is offered
to customers.
The benefits to customers are
many:
• Customers can stop, or substantially
scale down, their timber
processing. This frees capital
and resources, providing either
direct savings or an opportunity
the channel resources into product
finishing and/or marketing
activities;
• Shorter lead times from production
to installation by industrial
customers, resulting in a further
reduction in the cost of stockholding.
• Component production at
source enables the supplier to
optimise raw material usage and
yield. The resulting cost savings
will be passed on to customers.
By producing components at
its mills in Sweden, SCA Timber
is able to reduce its production
processes, achieving a reduction
in supply chain costs as a result.
Utilising integrated production
techniques additionally brings
environmental advantages:
• In-line component production in
the sawmill replaces traditional
sorting and packaging, eliminating
two production stages.
Door frames of Nordic spruce,
SCA Timber, Sweden.
Photo: Per-Anders Sjöquist
timbernews | 8

• By producing more components
from each log, raw material
usage is improved and the mill
can focus on cutting, kilning
and sorting to customers’ specific
component requirements.
• Production of customer-specific
components means less transport.
Production waste remains
at the sawmill and can be reused
for energy generation.
However, centring component
production at a Scandinavian mill
is not the answer for all customer
requirements. Suppliers must be
able reliably to offer a full mix of
products to their customers. The
challenge for the producer is to
establish a series of local production
and warehousing facilities
near to customers that will guarantee
delivery service and reliability,
whilst also offering low-cost
production of larger volume runs
at sawmill sites. This strategy
offers customers a double benefit.
Local engineering expertise,
both in France and Sweden, is
required in order to meet customer
expectations. Administrative
solutions that allow customers
to track component availability
on line, both at SCA Timber in
France and at the sawmills in
Scandinavia, are currently in the
process of being implemented.
In 2005, SCA was able to turn
theory into practice and lower
supply chain costs for its door
component sales in the UK. Prior
to that date, SCA’s former facility
at Warrington was producing
500,000 shrink-wrapped softwood
door frame sets (casing &
lining sets) per year. To expand
capacity, a decision was taken to
move the production line to its
Stoke-on-Trent headquarters and
Door and window shutter made in France. SCA Timber is the largest Scandinavian supplier of developed
timber (including components) to French industrial customers.
Photo: Lapeyre
improve manufacturing capabilities.
One option was to set up a full
line with a planing machine onsite
at Stoke. This would have
meant high capital cost in addition
to possible production bottlenecks,
resulting from the feed
speed of the planing machine
being 3-4 times higher than that
of the existing wrapping and
packaging line.
The solution has been to use
SCA’s integrated production
capabilities and machine casing
and lining (C&L) components
at two Swedish mills (Tunadal
and Bollsta). The components are
loaded on large cassettes, which
are then shipped by RoRo vessels
to SCA’s dock facilities at Tilbury,
for onward haulage to the wrapping
and packaging line at Stoke.
The component blanks are then
trenched, assembled, labelled and
packed ready for transport to UK
distributors and SCA customers.
Some two years after making
that investment, SCA Timber
Supply now sells more than
1,000,000 shrink-wrapped C&L
sets in the UK, representing a
35% share of the British market
for these products. Quality, cost
and service drive the UK’s C&L
supply chain and the lowered cost
from the Stoke plant makes it a
robust supply option for everyone
concerned. With further capacity
still available, SCA is now
looking forward to extending its
product range and supplying even
greater volumes of C&L goods to
its builder’s merchant customer
base.
9 | timbernews

Flying
start to 2008
SCA Timber Supply’s managing director Rob Simpson says business
for 2008 has got off to a flying start, with high demand
amongst new and existing customers.
Produced through SCA’s
Munksund sawmill, a 2.4 m
decking board has become the
summer-time 5th best-selling SKU
(stock-keeping unit) in the Wickes
DIY store range of 17,000 items.
SCA Timber Supply has closed
a supply partnership on decking
for all of Wickes 220 stores for
2008. Contracts for supply chain
management of timber and wood
products to 325 Homebase stores
Rob Simpson, managing director, SCA Timber Supply.
and 170 Focus DIY stores have
also been agreed.
“Our flexibility in moving across
the supply platform can be seen in
new business gained from Magnet.
Success in developing customerspecific
window components for
Magnet has led us to widen our
relationship with them in other
areas,” says managing director Rob
Simpson. “Magnet’s own distribu-
tion centre services its 165 stores
across the UK and we are now
supplying them with core range
builders’ merchant mini-packs
covering PAR, skirtings, architraves,
flooring and dado rails.
We are also supplying 1,600m 3 in
door casings and linings, produced
at our facilities at Tunadal, Bollsta
and Stoke. Magnet are looking to
expand their business in Britain
and SCA is well-placed to supply
their multiplicity of needs.”
Before the end of 2007, SCA
Timber Supply surpassed a production
milestone at its Stokeon-Trent
headquarters. Its aim of
reaching one million sets of door
casings and linings, produced on
the premises and sold to customers
before the end of 2007, has
been achieved with some weeks
to spare. These products are being
marketed through major customers
including Howden Joinery,
Jewsons, Travis Perkins, Magnet
and the Grafton Group.
Working closely with the distinctive
elements of the Grafton
Group, which is now Britain’s 4th
largest building materials supplier,
SCA Timber Supply has also just
renewed the contract to supply
from its Welshpool facility the
timber product needs of Grafton’s
Selco trade outlets in the London
and south east region. “Our ability
to offer a mix and match service
timbernews | 10

through our production facilities
at Stoke and Welshpool, backed
by our UK distribution centre and
our flexible sawmill and planing
partners in Sweden means we
are able to capture an increasing
market share in the UK,” asserts
Rob Simpson.
Camilla Hair
A production milestone has been
surpassed this year. One million sets
of door casings and linings have been
produced and sold to customers.
Increased pressure on the solid wood products market
A growth in stock levels held by producers
in Germany and Austria put
increasing pressure on the market
during the first six months of this
year. Initially, Scandinavian producers
fared better, but they are now subject
to similar pressures.
Consumption of sawn solid wood products
in Europe is good, although house
construction, which is the biggest sector
for wood consumption, is now weakening
due to high interest rates and increasing
economic uncertainty.
The Swedish domestic market is strong,
which is vitally important for Swedish producers.
However, growth in construction
in Europe, especially in Germany, is not as
positive as previously forecast.
The US continues to be a problem
market, with new construction down
approximately 30% compared to the situation
a year ago. This limits the potential
for exporting European surplus production
to the US. In addition, the Japanese
market has experienced a short-term collapse
as the result of a newly introduced
set of regulations not working as planned,
leading to a fall in excess of 40% in the
number of building permits issued during
the third quarter.
Stocks in Germany and Austria increased
during the spring, with Scandinavian
stocks gradually increasing during the
autumn. The reason for this increase is a
combination of high sawmill production
rates and a reduction in customer order
volumes. Consumption in the market
has fallen slightly as customers are applying
a much shorter-term approach to
their purchasing, which means that the
planning situation for the sawmills is
becoming increasingly uncertain.
Production at the sawmills continues to
maintain a high tempo. In Scandinavia,
production was up 4.5% during the first
ten months of this year compared to the
same period last year. The bulk of this
increase was in Finland, where rocketing
raw materials prices caused the felling
level to increase substantially as profitability
in the sawmill industry came
under pressure.
The sawmills in Germany and Austria
are reporting similarly increased production
rates, which will see 2007 being
regarded as an all-time high for German
sawmill production. Extensive investment
in recent years has seen Germany increase
its production capacity and benefit from
a greater number of state-of-the-art facilities.
As a result of this high production
level, raw materials prices are now also
rising in central Europe.
At the same time as production levels
have increased, customers have adopted
a more short-term approach to their
purchasing, and the outlook for the immediate
future looks somewhat uncertain.
The prices of spruce and lower quality
pine have fallen.
In order to strike a better balance between
supply and demand, SCA Timber
has announced a scaling-down of production
of around 15% to take place during
the first quarter of 2008. This will be
achieved through a combination of an
across-the-board reduction in production
time, e.g. over Christmas and New
Year, and a cut in the number of operating
hours and staffing levels at the sawmills
in Munksund and Rundvik.
Other producers have followed SCA
Timber’s lead and have recently announced
a similar scaling-back of their own
production volumes. Press releases from
Sweden and Finland outlining such proposals
blanketed the month of November.
No such announcements are to be made
on the continent, although our paper mill
in Laakirchen, Austria will suffer from
a significant downturn in the supply of
sawmill chips. This flow is directly linked
to the production volumes of the regional
sawmills in northern Austria and southern
Germany.
Anders Ek, marketing director
11 | timbernews

Spruce from SCA protects Danish
Christmas trees
Christmas is drawing near and soon millions of
spruce trees will be decked out in their seasonal
finery the length and breadth of Sweden. Many of
these trees come from Denmark, which is the biggest
exporter of Christmas trees in the world, and it is
timber from SCA that protects a significant number
of them from damage during transit.
The custom of decorating the
home with living trees and
branches is an ancient one,
originally serving to provide protection
against evil forces and
spirits.
The Christmas tree first appeared
in Germany during the 15th
Century. The first reported use of a
Christmas tree in Sweden came in
1741 in Stora Sundby, Södermanland,
in the home of the Wrede-
Sparre family.
Today, the Christmas tree industry
is a global phenomenon, enjoying
a multi-billion kronor turnover.
In Denmark, growing Christmas
trees is a major industry.
Every year, ten million spruce trees
are grown to supply customers
throughout Europe.
The majority of Danish Christmas
trees are of the Nordmann
fir (Abies nordmanniana) variety,
which is grown on former farmland
and regarded as an agricultural
crop. Once they have been
harvested, the trees are put into
nets and packed on pallets.
Last summer, when a Danish
Christmas tree grower got in
touch with Peter Henriksson
at SCA’s sawmill in Rundvik
asking for a batch of high-quality
northern Swedish spruce timber
to protect his own spruces, a few
eyebrows were raised.
“Normally, the lowest quality
timber is used for packing, but in
this case he only wanted the very
best,” says Henriksson.
As it turned out, the Christmas
tree grower knew exactly what
he wanted. During the busy days
when the trees are harvested and
packed, the packaging used must
be of a high quality in order to
ensure that there is no snapping
or breaking.
Each pallet is fitted with six side
pieces, which have been planed,
pre-drilled and precision-cut at
Rundvik. So far, two trucks, each
containing 50 cubic metres of
material, have been shipped out
to Denmark.
“If everything goes to plan,
there is an enormous market for
fibre from northern Sweden in the
Danish Christmas tree industry,”
notes Henriksson.
Mats Wigardt
Footnote:
Taking spruce indoors brings along
tens of thousands of tiny creatures
such as mites, spiders and several
species of ladybird, most of which
are invisible to the naked and totally
harmless.