Panels & Furniture Asia January/February 2021

FROM THE EDITOR
New year, renewed hope
Dear readers,
Happy new year to one and all!
This issue bears important market updates
that could be a good indicator of how the
global timber industry moves for the rest of
the year. Judd Johnson, Managing Editor of
the Hardwood Market Report Publications,
shares contributing factors behind the rise
in domestic demand for hardwoods within
the United States and how it has countered
supply contractions caused by the COVID-19
pandemic (p.18). According to Marina Sidorova,
Publishing Editor of Lesnaya Industriya, Russia
also sees an increased demand for wooden
houses – albeit amid fresh challenges (p.22).
Innovation hasn’t stopped and the woodbased
panel industry has seen the continuous
introduction of faster, better and more
cost-effective technological advances. Here,
we explore some of the latest products
in lab board production (p.30), moisture
measurement (p.33), batch size one production
(p.34) and cutting systems (p.38 and p.40),
among others.
In this edition, we also had the opportunity
to once again catch up with Roger&Sons,
a homegrown team of new-age carpenters
looking to revive the local woodworking
scene. Much has changed since our last
conversation in 2017; their latest venture –
the Local Tree Project – aims to salvage and
make use of logs from trees that have been
felled for urban development (p.42).
It is heartening that our Calendar of Events
is bursting at the seams with an exciting
line-up of trade exhibitions scheduled
slated to be held this year (p.62). After
a disappointing 2020, with majority of
the events having been cancelled or
postponed, organisers are gearing up
for events that will once again allow the
convergence of woodworking professionals
– be it online or in-person.
Loyal readers may notice that we have
refreshed the look of our inside pages to
ring in the new year. The official website
of Panels & Furniture Asia Group of wood
magazines (www.panelsfurnitureasia) is
also set for a full revamp and we’re excited
to unveil it soon.
I hope that the new year brings in renewed
hope and that we may soon see the light
at the end of the tunnel that 2020 brought
upon us.
JO-ANN | Editor
PANELS & FURNITURE ASIA
PABLO SINGAPORE
Publisher
William Pang • williampang@pabloasia.com
Senior Editor
Pang Yanrong • yanrong@pabloasia.com
Editor
Jo-Ann Teo • jo-ann@pabloasia.com
Business Development Manager
Pang YanJun • yanjun@pabloasia.com
Graphic Designer
Goh Meng Yong • mengyong@pabloasia.com
Circulation Manager
Shu Ai Ling • circulation@pabloasia.com
PABLO BEIJING
General Manager
Ellen Gao • pablobeijing@163.com
PABLO SHANGHAI
Senior Editor
Sharon Wu • pabloshanghai@163.net
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6 Panels & Furniture Asia | January / February 2021