Sonae Novobord

completed

Sonae Industria is one of the largest producers of wood based panel products globally. The acquisition of Novobord has established Sonae Novobord as one of the leading manufacturers of particle board and MDF products in South Africa. Sonae Novobord produces and upgrades particle board and MDF at its White River factory, serving both domestic (95 %) and export (5 %) markets. The White River plant currently has two preparation lines and one press line, allowing the plant to produce either medium density fiberboard (MDF) or particleboard (PB) on the same press line. The existing factory produces approximately 510 m3 of particle board or 220m3 of MDF daily. The plant operates on a 24/7 basis for approximately 350 days per annum, with one scheduled downtime period over Christmas and a shorter one mid-year. The expansion Project will add a new drier, some dry screening equipment, new forming, press and sanding lines dedicated to increasing particle and fiberboard production volumes. Revised capacity upon completion of upgrades will be ~1000 m³/day of PB while the current line would be dedicated to produce MDF at ~220 m³/day.