In Romania the panel industry started around 1930 and grew in a socialist economy until 1989, with a slow modernisation process full of economic difficulties. For this reason, many companies operating in the chipboard panel sector and equipped with  obsolete systems with small production capacity (from 12,000 to 25,000 cu. m./year), were forced to close down. This unfavourable situation has affected the following companies, which are no longer operating: Carpatina in Rimnicu Vilcea, Compal in Covasna, Dumbrava in Falticeni, Imar in Arad, Mobihar in Miercurea, Mopaf in Focsan, Pamex in Piatra Neamt and Sortilem in Gheria.
As the table per product categories show, there are 8 chipboard panel producers. The situation described above is still existent and today the plants at the companies Alprom and Stecopal are no longer functioning. The system at the company Pal is being modernised and will start operating again in 2004. Total production of chipboard panels in the year 2002 was 230,000 cu. m. with a total workforce of 720 people. There are no Rumanian producers of high pressure plastic laminates and OSB.
In Romania total capacity of plywood is at present 180,000 cu. m./year produced by 14  small size companies, some of which also produce strip panels and veneers.
There are 2 producers of wet cycle fibre panels: Alprom (the plant is not operating at the moment) and Stratusmob.
The wood raw material is abundant in Romania and this encourages companies to manufacture wood based products; this resulted, over the last few years, in an increase in companies producing solid wood panels. As shown in the list, the most important companies in this sector are 14. Many of these also produce parquet flooring and other products. In total, the number of companies producing different types of panels are 40.

Alprom
We went to visit the company Alprom, located in Pitesti, where we met the Managing Director, Mr. Dumitru Petcu, who stated :”Our Group consists of 9 factories giving work to 2,388 employees. Production is diversified and covers the whole cycle, that is: processing starts from two sawmills (employing 160 people and producing 42,000 cu. m./year) and goes through the production of veneers (48 people for a capacity of 2,500,000 sq. m./year), plywood (260 people for a capacity of 7,000 cu. m./year plus 5,000 cu. m./year of wood components for bed frames), to the production of wet cycle fibre panels (the factory can produce 31,000 cu. m./year with 120  employees) which at present is not operating, because the machines are old and we can not rival the strong competition by MDF Sebes. With 6 factories, we produce different types of furniture, excluding kitchens, giving work to 1,800 people. My personal view of the future is optimistic, because we are going to specialise more and more in activities suitable to our production structure. Another positive aspect is our export quota equal to 78%.”

MDF Sebes Frati
In addition to the difficult situation described above, the crisis of the Rumanian  panel industry was worsened by the activity of the Italian Frati Group of companies of Pomponesco, near Mantova, which has invested 180 million Euro in three Rumanian Sebes factories: MDF Sebes Frati, Sepal and Divisione Resine (a chemical factory producing 120,000 ton/year of liquid and spray resins used for in-house production).
The Frati Group, producer of chipboard and MDF panels, raw and finished, as well as various types of plastic laminates for different applications, pays great attention to the quality of its products and is committed to a constant project and design research activity.  All this, supported by experts in the sector of architecture, design and colour.
The Group promotes the Eco-compatibility of its products, by checking all production cycles, including the recovery of raw materials.   
The Frati Spa Group, one of the best Italian companies for the production of wood based panels and plastic laminates, consists of the following companies:
Frati Luigi, Pantec, C.M.P., Chimica Pomponesco, Frati Laminati, Bipan, Bipan div. Astrid, Mdf Sebes-Frati, Sepal (the last two are actually in Romania).
The Group represents the largest Italian investment in Romania in the last ten years. The objective is to transform this business reality in the heart of Europe into one of the greatest panel producer in the world. Set up in Transylvania, the business has become, in the space of only few years, a vital point both in terms of production and marketing, thanks to its strategic location within the continent. This enables MDF Sebes Frati to serve both the Eastern and Western markets, and to give a significant contribution to the internationalisation process of the Group. 
MDF Sebes Frati is an Italo-Rumanian company set up on the 13th of November 1997, fruit of the intuition of the Frati Group regarding the potentials of the Transylvanian area, quite a “pioneering” undertaking in itself, one of  the first foreign companies to set up business in this area. Romania is still an unknown business reality for many aspects, but possesses great potentials, both in terms of availability of raw material and workforce. “Many were ready to bet that this venture will not have been successful” – said Luigi Frati in his speech during the opening ceremony - Some still support this thesis today, maybe because they have not seen it yet. The key word that better summarises the efforts made is cooperation. Without the cooperation from the people in the Frati Group, and in particular from William Archenti and Giorgio Tommaselli, from our suppliers, nobody excluded, from the pool of banks, from the Rumanian Government, MDF Sebes Frati would not exist. All I can say today is that I hope that all the people present here and looking at the state of the art of the investment made, will continue to believe in the Frati Group and in my work. A production complex of such significance can improve the present state of employment in Romania by increasing work places.”
For having set up the MDF Sebes factory in Romania, Luigi Frati has been elected the man of the year 2000, a high reward conferred by the President of the Republic of Romania to people who have distinguished themselves in business activities.
Located on an area of 500 thousand square meters, of which 150 thousand covered, the MDF Sebes Frati factory produces raw and finished MDF panels (production capacity of over 350,000 cu. m./year) for the manufacture of furniture and furnishing complements. The plant was built by the German company Dieffenbacher, which has also installed the Conti-Press continuous press, 26.2 m long and 2.44 m wide. The same unit produces also formaldehyde and various types of derivative resins. The factory gives work to over 300 employees who have attended a preparatory stage in Italy at the Frati Group; however, considering the business it generates, when the company will be fully operating, it will be able to give work up to three thousand people involved in forestry and the material transportation, on road, railway and by boat.  The Sepal factory was completed in 2001 for the production of chipboard panels and melamine faced products (full production capacity over 500,000 cu. m./year). The necessary raw materials, like wood, methanol and urea, can be acquired both in Romania and abroad. The flow of raw materials and finished products ensures a significant volume of transportation activity. The technology adopted in the production cycles enables low energy consumption per product unit. The export market is served through the Frati Group’s sales network, supplier to the most important furniture producers in Italy, North Europe, the Mediterranean area and the Asian South. The opening ceremony took place on the  3rd of November 2000 and this will probably remain amongst the most relevant dates in the history of the Frati Group, which has started a new an enthusiastic adventure.

Natural Est
Set up in 1994, it used to produce semi-finished products, components for furniture until 1998, when it started to manufacture solid wood panels with the finger-joint system. The factory was built on the initiative of the President, Mr. Gianfranco Splendiani, owner of the International Bois Srl company of  Grottammare (near Ascoli Piceno). We were given a tour of the factory by the Managing Director, Mr. Cristian Nicolescu and the Production Manager, Mr. Roberto Severini.
The factory spreads on an area of 60,000 sq. m., of which 15,000 sq. m. are covered, and gives work to 240 people for an annual production capacity of about 7,000 sq. m.
The factory is equipped with plants of the latest generation. Natural Est was granted the ISO 9001 Certification on 18th December 2001.

To see the list of the different kind of panels produced by romanian companies, please, click on the right 

To have the list of romanian companies (industry and retail), please ask for the password to datalignum@datalignum.com

 Left: Continuous press line ContiPress Dieffenbacher at MDF Sebes Frati
 Right: Weinig Unimat 23 EL at Natural Est factory