Oak veneer is the most crucial raw material in the Woodura® production process developed and patented by Pervanovo’s subsidiary Välinge Innovation AB. The aim of the acquisition is to secure supply of sufficient quantities of cost-efficient high-quality veneer for the expanding production of flooring with Woodura surface.
Furnir Otok is located in the heart of the famous Spacva forest in Croatia which is one of the largest intact oak forests in Europe well known for its very high oak quality. The company has a long-term supply contract with the state-owned Croatian forest company Hrvatske Šume comprising large quantities of the highest oak quality – the F1 Select grade.
Furnir Otok is one of the most modern veneer plants in Europe well known for its extremely high veneer quality. The production started in 2011. Present production is about 7,5 million m2 of veneer that is mainly supplied to the European furniture industry. The capacity is about 15 million m2. Furnir Otok has 130 employees. In 2017 the company reported sales of € 10 million and an EBITDA of 3 million €.
Furnir Otok d.o.o. will be renamed to “Bjelin Otok” and will continue to supply veneer to the present customers. However, in step one the production will increase to the present capacity of 15 million m2 and in step two a new veneer slicing line will be installed that will increase the production further to 20 million m2. The additional quantities will be used for Woodura production. Furnir Otok will also expand its production to veneer splicing. Individual plank sized veneer strips will be connected to large 2.1 * 2.4 m sheets in order to facilitate feeding of veneer into the high tech continuous Woodura press lines.
In addition, Furnir Otok has the veneer know-how needed to expand the veneer production to other Pervanovo plants in Croatia. The Pervanovo R&D company Välinge will extend its R&D activities with veneer technology and the objective is to develop special veneers that are optimal for the production of floors with Woodura.
Pervanovo aims to become the largest veneer producer in Europe of oak veneers for flooring applications. The veneer will be supplied to the Pervanovo Woodura factories in Sweden and Croatia but also to Välinge licensees that will invest in Woodura production.
“The wood flooring industry must introduce new modern production methods and environmentally friendly technologies that use less oak material. From the same amount of oak material, we get ten times more floors with Woodura than conventional parquet floors. This acquisition secures large quantities of high-quality veneer that are sufficient to replace 25% of the European parquet production with new cost-efficient “green” wood floors. We hope that our new technology will be a game changer that provides major consumer benefits, preserves oak forests and gives the wood flooring category the possibility to regain lost market shares”, says Darko Pervan chairman Pervanovo Invest AB.
In 2016 Pervanovo acquired the Croatian company Bjelin d.o.o. with production sites in Ogulin and Bjelovar. Bjelin d.o.o. has long-term supply contracts with Croatian forest comprising large quantities of oak. The Ogulin parquet plant has been restructured and the capacity has been increased from 0.4 to 2.0 million m2. New efficient equipment has been installed in new buildings and the product range has been extended to oiled and lacquered conventional parquet planks and strips for herringbone installations. The industrial land area in Ogulin has been extended from 140,000 to 470,000 m2 and land works for a new major Woodura factory in Ogulin have started.
In Bjelovar a new factory building will be completed at the end of this year and new equipment will be installed for production of top layer lamellas based on fresh cutting technology. The oak lamellas are supplied to the Ogulin parquet factory but also to several wood flooring producers in Europe.
The Bjelovar and Otok plants will be coordinated. The combination of lamellas for conventional parquet floor and veneer for floors featuring Woodura results in a very high utilization of the oak material.
Floors featuring Woodura are based on a combination of wood powder and veneer, cured under high pressure and temperature. These floors are anticipated to replace other floor types such as parquet, LVT, laminate and similar since Woodura combines superior design with cost-efficient and environmentally friendly production.
Välinge has installed high-tech production lines with a capacity of 7 million m2 of powder-based floors with Woodura and Nadura® in Viken, Sweden. In 2020, a new production line for Woodura with a capacity of 6 million m2 will be completed in Croatia. The total flooring capacity, including conventional parquet floors, will expand to about 15 million m2 within a few years and the Pervanovo group will thereby become one of the major flooring companies in Europe. The total investment for this first step is estimated to about € 180 million. 1/3 of the investment is related to the Swedish activities and 2/3 to the Croatian activities. After the acquisition of Furnir Otok Pervanovo will have about 830 employees in Croatia.
