Utilization and Specifications of Wood and Wood-Base Materials in West Germany

The Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) is one of the world’s largest producers of particleboard, veneer, industrial roundwood, and paper products. In 1975, total sales of wood products were about $16 billion and the wood industries employed one-half million people. FRG has been a net importer of forest products, ranked third behind Japan and the United Kingdom. Spruce, beech, Scotch pine, and white oak are important industrial roundwood species in FRG. More than 46 percent of the raw materials for paper production are recycled paper. Housing starts were 379,000 in 1976, only 54 percent of those in 1973. There are about 70 particleboard plants; of the total raw wood materials used in particleboard, 37 percent was softwood logs, 30 percent hardwood logs, and 33 percent industrial wood residues. The output of exterior particleboard was about 10 percent of the total board production (6,125 million m in 1976). The FRG particleboard standard covers three kinds of commercial particleboard: 1) V-20 board for interior application; 2) V-100 board for exterior uses, and; 3) V-100G board, a preservative-treated exterior particleboard. A 12-week accelerated weathering test for wood-base materials has been developed by the Federal Materials Testing Laboratory. Exposure includes three cycles of spraying with water at 20?C, radiation, high temperature at 70?C, and cold storage at -22?C.

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