MDF & HDF Boards (Raw, Moisture-Resistant and Melamine-Faced)

Raw and melamine-faced MDF and HDF by thickness, density and formaldehyde class: E1, CARB P2, TSCA Title VI or F☆☆☆☆

MDF is bought on thickness, density, surface and formaldehyde class. The Harmonized System Explanatory Notes describe MDF as fibreboard made by adding thermosetting resin to dried wood fibres before pressing, at a density that generally ranges from 0.45 to 1 g/cm³, and it is declared by thickness: HS 4411.12 up to 5 mm, 4411.13 above 5 mm and up to 9 mm, and 4411.14 above 9 mm, while other fibreboard is declared by density under 4411.92 to 4411.94. In the trade, standard MDF averages 700-800 kg/m³, board above 800 kg/m³ is sold as high density fibreboard (HDF) and light MDF sits at or below 650 kg/m³, and boards are offered from 2 mm to 60 mm thick. European requirements for dry-process boards are set in EN 622-5, and boards for construction come under EN 13986. Most MDF is bonded with urea-formaldehyde resin, so the emission class is the other half of the order: E1 in Europe, where a REACH restriction adopted in 2023 (Regulation (EU) 2023/1464) also sets a limit of 0.062 mg/m³ of released formaldehyde for furniture and wood-based articles; for the USA, CARB ATCM Phase 2 and the identical federal TSCA Title VI limits of 0.11 ppm for MDF and 0.13 ppm for thin MDF of 8 mm or less, with third-party certification and TSCA Title VI labelling; for Japan, the F☆☆☆☆ rank, the low-emission grade whose interior use the building rules do not restrict; and E0 where the buyer's own standard names it. Raw board goes to machining, lacquering and laminating plants, and melamine-faced and other coated boards go into furniture and kitchen fronts and laminate flooring. Moisture-resistant board is typically green, for bathroom fitments, doors and window boards, and fire-retardant board is typically red or blue, for fitted furniture, doors and panelling in public buildings. UN Comtrade 2024 export declarations total USD 7.81 billion across the three MDF lines: China declared USD 1.26 billion and 2.62 million MT, Germany USD 926 million, Thailand USD 735 million and 2.45 million MT, Türkiye USD 693 million and 1.10 million MT, Canada USD 349 million, Spain USD 326 million, Chile USD 290 million, Poland USD 264 million and Brazil USD 256 million, and the thick-board line HS 4411.14 alone carries USD 5.02 billion. Vietnam is not among the 2024 reporters, but importers declared about USD 103 million of MDF from it, led by the USA, the Republic of Korea and India. By output, China made about 48.5 million m³ of MDF in 2023, Türkiye about 7.0 million m³ and Brazil about 5.3 million m³, on FAOSTAT figures.

The buyers are furniture and kitchen front manufacturers, laminate flooring plants, for which HDF is the primary substrate, door, panelling and shopfitting makers, and panel distributors and builders' merchants. CBIL is a commodity brokerage company and brokers MDF and HDF between panel mills and their export agents on one side and importers, distributors and manufacturers on the other, against the buyer's thickness list, density, surface, emission class and sheet size, with the emission certificate from the mill's certifying body and, where the buyer asks for it, inspection of thickness, density and moisture at loading. Boards move in strapped, wrapped packs on bearers, loaded into 20-ft or 40-ft containers, on FOB, CFR and CIF terms per cubic metre, and minimum quantities are confirmed per product and pack. Legality is a condition of shipment: FSC or PEFC chain-of-custody certificates where the buyer requires them; for EU destinations, the data for the EU Deforestation Regulation due diligence statement, which lists fibreboard of HS 4411 and applies from 30 December 2026 to large and medium operators and, because the EU Timber Regulation already covered fibreboard, to micro and small operators too; UK Timber Regulation due diligence for Great Britain; and for the USA, a Lacey Act declaration naming genus, species and country of harvest, filed in ACE or LAWGS. Trade remedies apply in some markets: India first imposed anti-dumping duties on plain MDF from China, Malaysia, Sri Lanka and Thailand in 2009, and in 2021 decided against the duty its investigating authority had recommended on plain MDF under 6 mm from Vietnam, Malaysia, Thailand and Indonesia. The duty on the exact origin, thickness and product is the buyer's check before contract. Send the thickness list, density, surface, emission class, sheet size, volume and discharge port and the enquiry is screened and worked against it.

Excluded origins are not offered, including product re-exported, blended or re-processed through a third country. Every lot moves with a certificate of origin naming the producing plant, mine or grower country, and nothing is quoted before the seller and loading point are known.