Century Plyboards, a market leader in India’s wood products industry, is planning to export its MDF products to West Asia and South-East Asia from this financial year.

The Kolkata-based company currently exports laminates to the US, Europe, Australia, West Asia and South-East Asia.

“In the current financial year, because of the Badvel capacity coming into play, we will be exporting MDF as well. For MDF, the predominant catchment will be West Asia and South-East Asia as the freight component will be lower. The export may start from the next quarter (second quarter) itself,” Century Plyboards (India) Executive Director, Keshav Bhajanka, told businessline.

The company ,in December last year, inaugurated its new ₹1,000-crore integrated wood panel manufacturing plant over a 100-acre site at Badvel in Andhra Pradesh.

MDF segment

“MDF will be the major segment within the Plywood business. This segment is likely to be one of the growth drivers for the future. As it is a cheaper product category to Plywood, going forward it is going to play a big role in the middle-income segment,” Bhajanka said.

While the overall plywood industry in India is growing at a rate of high single-digit, the MDF segment is growing at over 30 per cent. The country’s MDF industry is valued at around ₹5,000 crore.

The company is producing MDF products at two facilities — Punjab’s Hoshiarpur and Andhra Pradesh’s Badvel. Current production capacity stands at 1,900 cubic metre per day.

“Considering the robust pace at which India is growing, we will be going to see substantial increase in demands for MDF, particle board, plywood and laminates. So, we are ramping up capacity for each of these categories. We will set up more production lines at existing units. It could also be green-field expansions,” Bhajanka added.

Century Plyboards garners around 30 per cent market share in India’s organised plywood sector. The company’s entire wood-based products revenue is generated from branded products.

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