Particle Board & OSB (Chipboard, Melamine-Faced Chipboard, OSB/2 and OSB/3)

Raw and melamine-faced particle board by EN 312 type, and OSB/2 and OSB/3 to EN 300 or PS 2 sheathing, by the container

Particle board and OSB are both pressed from wood and resin, but they do different jobs and are bought on different standards. Particle board, also called chipboard, is manufactured under heat and pressure from particles of wood such as flakes, chips, shavings and sawdust, mainly spruce with pine, fir and birch sometimes used, and it can include a large share of recycled wood; the binder is a synthetic, mostly formaldehyde-based resin. EN 312 sets the board types: P1 and P2 for use in dry conditions, P2 being the furniture and interior fitment board, P3 for humid conditions, and P4 to P7 for load-bearing use, with P5 and P7 made for humid service. Raw board goes to veneering and laminating plants; melamine-faced board, decorative paper saturated with melamine resin and laminated onto the particle board under heat and pressure, is the panel of ready-to-assemble furniture and kitchen cabinets. Oriented strand board (OSB) is a construction panel of long wood strands bonded with phenol formaldehyde, melamine-fortified urea formaldehyde (MUF) or isocyanate (PMDI) resin, with the strands of the outer layers running along the panel length and those of the middle layers across it; in Europe PMDI is commonly used in the core and MUF in the face layers. EN 300 grades it OSB/1 for general purpose and interior fitments in dry conditions, OSB/2 load-bearing for dry conditions, OSB/3 load-bearing for humid conditions and OSB/4 heavy-duty load-bearing for humid conditions, and boards for construction come under EN 13986. In North America, OSB is made to PS 2, the performance standard for wood structural panels, or to CSA O325 for Canada, and trademarked with a Performance Category such as 7/16, a span rating and a bond classification, Exposure 1 for panels that meet moisture during construction or Exterior, on standard 4 x 8 ft panels. The US TSCA Title VI formaldehyde standards, identical to CARB ATCM Phase 2, set 0.09 ppm for particle board and do not apply to OSB. UN Comtrade 2024 export declarations under HS 4410.11 (particle board) total USD 5.93 billion across 101 reporters; leading reporters include Austria at USD 757 million and 1.08 million MT, Germany at USD 574 million and 1.08 million MT, Thailand at USD 444 million and 2.14 million MT, France at USD 350 million, Poland at USD 314 million, Italy at USD 300 million, Spain at USD 292 million, Türkiye at USD 259 million and Canada at USD 255 million. Under HS 4410.12 (OSB), USD 3.79 billion and 6.81 million MT, Canada declared USD 2.12 billion and 3.34 million MT, 55.8% of the value; other leading reporters include Czechia at USD 179 million, Latvia at USD 169 million, Germany at USD 160 million, Belgium at USD 138 million and Luxembourg at USD 104 million, with the USA at USD 71 million and Brazil at USD 44 million. The USA declared USD 2.23 billion of OSB imports, 92.3% of it from Canada.

The buyers of particle board are furniture, kitchen unit and worktop makers, door plants and laminators; the buyers of OSB are timber-frame and roofing contractors, builders' merchants, panel distributors and packaging makers, because OSB goes into flooring, roof decking and wall sheathing and also into sarking, industrial packaging, site hoardings and pallet tops. CBIL is a commodity brokerage company and brokers particle board and OSB between panel mills and their export agents on one side and importers, distributors and manufacturers on the other, against the buyer's type or class, thickness, sheet size, surface and emission class. Boards move in strapped, wrapped packs on bearers, loaded into 20-ft or 40-ft containers, on FOB, CFR and CIF terms, and offers are worked per cubic metre on type and thickness; North American OSB is referenced per thousand square feet on a 7/16-inch basis, the unit of the Random Lengths OSB prices published by Fastmarkets. 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 EU Deforestation Regulation data for particle board and OSB of HS 4410, applying from 30 December 2026 to large and medium operators and, because the EU Timber Regulation already covered these boards, 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, plus TSCA Title VI certification and labelling on particle board. Import duties and any trade remedies differ by market and are the buyer's check before contract. Send the product, type or class, thickness, sheet size, surface, 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.