Assopannelli, the FederlegnoArredo association representing Italian companies producing wood panels and semi-finished products, is committed to defending the Italian production of panels supporting the entire wood-furniture supply chain in Europe.
As part of Sicam, a joint press conference was held by Assopannelli and the European Panel Federation (EPF) on the theme “The future of Italian panel industries in Europe“, with speeches by Nicoletta Azzi, President of Assopannelli, and Paolo Fantoni, President of EPF, the European federation that brings together associations from 25 countries and represents over 5,000 European companies.
The President of Assopannelli appealed to the institutions to support and encourage the development of poplar farming, which for Italy is the most significant domestic source of timber for industry. 
As a raw material, in fact, poplar represents better than others the Made in Italy with its niche supply chain and finds its main industrial use in the production of panels, in particular, plywood panels, in the wood packaging industry and paper. In recent years, however, the cultivated area has steadily decreased, leading to a significant increase in imports at the expense of Italian poplar, which has unique physical and aesthetic characteristics, appreciated by designers all over the world.

Assopannelli projects for promotion in support of the supply chain

In order to support the supply chain, Assopannelli is carrying out two interesting projects.
The first concerns a semi-automatic system for the mapping and annual updating of poplar surfaces in the Po Valley of Veneto. Funded by FederlegnoArredo, this project, called Monipoplar, was developed by the Council for Agricultural Research and Analysis of Agricultural Economics (CREA), in collaboration with the University of Florence (UNIFI). In the area crossed by the river Po, in fact, are rooted both the most important sources of supply and the major companies producing wood-based panels.
The second project concerns the identification of procedures so that poplar can become a commodity and can therefore be included in the financial treatment of raw materials.
“We have moved towards actions aimed at enhancing the role of poplar and its environmental activity, in order to increase the knowledge base on the distribution of Italian poplar surfaces, information currently lacking in our country“ - explained Nicoletta Azzi. “For the wood-furniture supply chain, the cultivation and transformation of the raw material wood plays a fundamental role; the panel industry is exactly the hinge of circularity, from the world of recycling to new products for the home, sewing two edges of our industrial supply chain. Behind the positive performance of the panel companies there is a lively industrial fabric, made up of SMEs that have been able to leverage its characteristics to face the crisis and create new development opportunities“.

The new German regulation on new formaldehyde emission limits

Assopannelli is committed to representing the supply chain beyond national borders and actively collaborates with the European Panel Federation. An active and fruitful collaboration, also underlined by the president of EPF, Paolo Fantoni, who pointed out that at federal, national and European level, the new German regulations deserve special attention. Starting from January 1, 2020, they will change the method of analysis of formaldehyde, with repercussions not only on the world of the panel, but on the entire wood-furniture chain.