Russia's war against Ukraine is further amplifying the raw material crisis that was already strongly affecting the wood flooring industry. Ukraine and Russia account for about 25 percent of all oak top layers produced for the European market and the shortage of oak in general and parquet floors in particular starts being noticeable on the market, jeopardizing many construction projects that face the risk of major delays due to canceled deliveries of traditional wood floors.

The Woodura surface technology maximizes the amount of square meters than can be produced from every log. By using sliced wood instead of solid wood, 10 times more flooring can be produced from the same amount of lumber compared to traditional engineered wood flooring and 30 times more flooring compared to solid wood flooring. The surface created also provide outstanding impact and wear resistance, making hardened wood floors truly worry-free.

Välinge is already increasing its capacity at full pace in the factory in Viken (Sweden). In order to support the skyrocketing demand for this next-gen real wood and speed up the capacity increase for this category, Välinge Innovation Sweden AB recently acquired the mega factory currently under construction in Ogulin (Croatia). Construction of the factory was initiated in 2020 by Välinge Innovation’s parent company, Pervanovo Invest AB. The first phase is scheduled to be operational by 2023 and all phases finalized and up and running in 2027. The Ogulin factory site will include a warehouse, press hall, process hall, powder production, energy station and offices.

The mega factory in Ogulin (Croatia) under construction, April 2022. Photo: Välinge.

Production of flooring featuring Woodura surface technology from the Viken and Ogulin factories will therefore ramp up incrementally, exceeding 20 million m2 in annual capacity upon completion.

“The demand for our hardened wood flooring with Woodura surface is increasing rapidly in all markets where we are active. The products are very well received as the Woodura technology enables to produce more out of less and make flooring products last longer,” says Niclas Håkansson, CEO, Välinge Innovation. “We can manufacture more square meters of flooring with a better performance than traditional build-ups. With the current situation, the flooring industry must change or raw material will just not be enough for the demand. With this in mind, in combination with the possibility to source the oak top layer from our sister company Bjelin in Croatia, we think the timing is right to increase capacity to meet the market demand.”