Europe’s largest LVL producer joins forces with Australia’s largest national independent wholesale distributor.
Metsä Wood and ITI/John Cook & Sons are excited to announce a new strategic partnership which will see ITI and Cooks become the key distributor of engineered wood products in Australia for Metsa Wood. This is a significant partnership between a resource-based producer and Australia’s largest national timber distributor that will ensure a consistent supply of EWP into the Australian marketplace for years to come.
This new arrangement brings together two significant players of the industry at an opportune time with the withdrawal of Carter’s EWP from the Australian market recently announced. Until recently, ITI had only distributed EWP in Victoria and South Australia but this partnership will now see ITI’s national expansion in this product range accelerate, meaning the group’s customers will now have access to this high-quality product range Australia-wide.
“This partnership is well aligned with Metsä Wood’s growth strategy in Australia and its ongoing commitment here. Metsä Wood have been successfully supplying the Australian market for several years and this partnership will further enhance and enrich the Metsä Wood business. We are proud of this partnership and looking forward to the future growth in the market,” says Virva Juhola, SVP sales Metsä Wood.
Metsä Wood is one of the leading producers of engineered wood products globally and is Europe’s biggest producer of LVL. Metsä Wood has a long history as a high-quality LVL producer and today the production capacity of Kerto LVL exceeds 300,000 m3.
ITI and Cooks had been looking for a high-quality supplier of EWP to add to its extensive product portfolio and has been working with Metsä for over 12 months. “Securing this supply agreement with Metsä has allowed us to build on the work done by our businesses in South Australia and Victoria and take EWP to all our customers on a national basis,” says Germano Tomassetti, national business manager of the timber group. “We have quickly expanded the EWP team bringing expertise into the business where required and investing in infrastructure, software and people to ensure our customers receive the high-quality service standards they have come to expect from us.”
ITI is the largest independent timber distributor in Australia and one of the largest in NZ. With an office in Indonesia and manufacturing in Chile, the timber group now has close to 500 staff worldwide and carries the most extensive product range in Australia. The group continues to drive for expansion and work with its independent customers to bring to them the highest quality products from around the globe.
Metsa Wood and ITI will have more exciting news to share with the market over the next couple of months as they finalise the technical aspects of the partnership and expand on the current product offering.
For more, visit https://itiaustralia.com.au/, www.metsagroup.com and www.metsawood.com
More on Metsä Group and Metsä Wood
Metsä Group is a forerunner in sustainable bioeconomy utilising renewable wood from sustainably managed northern forests. Metsä Group focuses on wood supply and forest services, wood products, pulp, fresh fibre paperboards and tissue and greaseproof papers.
In 2019, Metsä Groups sales totalled 5.5 billion euros, and it employs approximately 9300 people. Metsäliitto Cooperative is the parent company of Metsä Group and is owned by approximately 103,000 Finnish forest owners.
Metsä Wood is one of the leading European producers of engineered wood products. Metsä Wood is committed to serving construction, industrial and distribution customers with competitive and environmentally friendly wood products. Metsä Wood’s products include Kerto® LVL, plywood and other wood products.
Metsä Wood’s sales in 2019 were 0.4 billion euros, and it currently employs approximately 1500 people. Metsä Wood is part of Metsä Group.
