On June 6 and 7, 2022, the 19th Wood-Technology Conference was held in Opatija, Croatia with almost 150 participants from Croatia, the region and Europe. For the sixth year in a row at the conference, as a silver sponsor, we are the only representatives from Serbia presenting our production program. We had the opportunity to talk with existing customers, to contract new jobs for drying kilns and steaming chambers in the territory of Croatia, and we also had a lot of conversations with potential customers, for whom it is still easier to come to the conference. We also met with the competition, i.e. we had business discussions about the advantages and differences that exist in business between our companies.
The consequences of the war in Ukraine on the wood processing sector, the shortage of raw materials and the reduction of cut-offs, innovations and investments, new technologies and greater use of wood in construction were the main topics of the first day of the conference. All participants agreed that the wood industry has entered a very successful period in the last six months, but that there is some fear of the coming recession in the form of a shortage of raw material for wood energy, disruptions in logistics and personnel restrictions. High demand and good prices, as well as the support of green policies enabled the sector to progress after the difficult situation and uncertainty caused by the pandemic during 2020 and 2021. The second day of the conference was spent in a study visit to the Swedish-Croatian company ”Bjelin” from Ogulin.