Blog Why are Chinese not buying plywood mills from Russia? June 2, 2023 / April 25, 2025 by Panu Anttila Friday 2 June 2023. – According to Yale School of Management’s list, over 1,000 companies have curtailed operations in Russia by May 2023. While the list is mainly occupied by Western companies, very few Chinese companies have stopped operations in Russia. Chinese companies don’t bear the same reputational risk as companies in the West. Last […] Read more »
Blog Vintage plywood from Russia February 24, 2023 / March 13, 2023 by Panu Anttila Friday 24 February 2023. – A year ago Russian troops crossed the Ukrainian border. In addition to being absurd and pointless, the war today is stuck. The demand is high for the Russian ammunition industry, but not for the plywood industry. According to Rosstat, in the last quarter before the war, Q4 2021, Russian plywood […] Read more »
Blog Haven’t found the crystal ball yet December 20, 2023 / April 25, 2025 by Panu Anttila Wednesday 20 December 2023. – For laziness reasons, I copied today my blog post from January this year. However, I had to make some edits to my 11-month-old prediction. Deletions in strikethrough, additions in bold: — Here’s a simplified plywood market outlook in January 2023: Birch plywood availability will remain scarce until mid-2023. A minor […] Read more »
Blog Shady imports April 19, 2023 / July 9, 2024 by Panu Anttila Tuesday 19 April 2023. – If you buy drugs, you probably understand that it’s illegal and it’s imported. A buyer doesn’t spend time wondering which laboratory the powder is coming from. On the street corners, cash and merchandise are exchanged, but not certificates of origin. If you buy plywood, it is often imported but rarely […] Read more »
Blog AI hits plywood February 10, 2023 / February 10, 2023 by Panu Anttila Friday 10 February 2023. – Lately, there has been a lot of fuss around artificial intelligence and the ChatGPT application. The company behind, OpenAI, has started a race where the search engine giants are followers. Once again, somebody coming from the outskirts of the industry is disrupting the market. That’s refreshing. I have my head […] Read more »
Blog Plywood year 2023 January 16, 2023 / January 16, 2023 by Panu Anttila Monday 16 January 2023. – Oddly enough, predicting the 2023 plywood business landscape 2023 seems easy. The overall market sentiment is unanimous. Interest rates and inflation are high. Activity slows down. Since the pandemic started in early 2020, the wood panel market has faced surprises one after another. Even if we’d see a steady decline […] Read more »
Blog Diamonds are forever, how about sanctions? October 7, 2022 / October 7, 2022 by Panu Anttila Friday 7 October 2022. – I have never visited Cuba, but when the country is mentioned, my mind gets full of images of the streets of Havana with old buildings and classic American cars. Why cars? I cannot imagine any other country that brings car photos into my mind. The United States embargo against Cuba […] Read more »
Blog Summer 2023 is nearly here July 5, 2022 / July 5, 2022 by Panu Anttila July 05, 2022. – Plywood buyers and sellers have been busy this year, once again. The global plywood market is inter-connected, and the supply/demand changes somewhere impact all continents. We look at things from a company perspective, but we are all part of a bigger network. When entering a holiday season, it is nice to […] Read more »
Blog Are crude oil and birch logs cousins? June 17, 2022 / June 17, 2022 by Panu Anttila June 17, 2022. – I guess all of us have noticed how gasoline, electricity, and food prices have increased lately. At the same time, our eyes have opened to see how massive the Russian oil exports are. And even more dramatically, how big wheat exporters both Ukraine and Russia are. If a commodity gets expensive […] Read more »
