CSR plant to 'fill a gap’

Press, 7 December 1988, Page 44

CSR plant to 'fill a gap’

NZPA-AAP Sydney CSR is to “fill a gap” in its product range with plans for a sAust2s million (SNZ33 million) medium density fibreboard plant at its Tumut factory in southern New South Wales. Mr Keith Barton, executive general manager of CSR’s timber products division, said the plant was expected to be commissioned by the beginning of 1990. It will have a capacity of 50,000 cubic metres a year, although Mr Barton said initially it will produce between 25,000 and 30,000 cubic metres a year. CSR is Australia’s largest manufacturer of wood

panels, but this is its first move into medium density fibreboard, which sells for between sAust6oo and sAust7oo (SNZBOO and SNZ933) a cubic metre, Mr Barton said. “This will fill a gap in our product range that we have had for a number of years,” he said. “It is a high growth area in the panels market and we have got distribution and marketing already in place.” Medium density fibreboard is used for ornate furniture, mouldings and lacquered finishes, and Mr Barton said CSR also intends to increase low pressure melamine laminating capacity at the Tumut factory.