North American composite panel shipments for all three product categories totaled 5.473MMSF for 2011, an increase of nearly 1% over 2010, according to Composite Panel Assn. Particleboard and MDF shipments experienced a positive second half of the year, consistently outperforming the last six months of 2010.
MDF shipments rose 2.1% totaling 1.874MMSF for the year over 2010. Particleboard shipments were 3.172MMSF, a less than a 1% drop from 2010. Hardboard and engineered wood siding and trim shipments were down 3.3% for the year.