Wood products: Follow one offering through the chain
Sawmills and panel makers producing plywood, MDF, engineered timber and wood pellets
Follow one offering through the chain
A sheet of plywood from farm trees
Follow a poplar or eucalyptus log from a farmer's field through a peeling lathe and a hot press to a dealer.
Poplar and eucalyptus on farm boundaries
~96%domestic roundwood from trees outside forestsIndian plywood rarely comes from natural forest. Farmers grow fast-growing poplar and eucalyptus on field boundaries and sell the logs to local mills. An ITTO-supported study estimates that trees outside forests, largely on farms, supplied about 45 of India's 47 million m3 of domestic roundwood around 2020, roughly 96% (calculated), with state forests supplying the rest.1
Constraint Slow response: farm trees take years to mature, so when mills expand faster than farmers plant, log prices spike and stay high. Tm TimberH₂O WaterUr UreaLogs nearby, face veneer from afar
~18%of 2020 wood demand met from abroadLocal traders buy logs at the farm gate, but the best decorative face veneers come from tropical hardwoods abroad. Imports and substitutes met about 10 of the 57 million m3 India needed in 2020, roughly 18% (calculated), and Century Plyboards, a leading brand, runs its own veneer unit in Gabon, with ₹30 crore of capex budgeted for it.1,2
Constraint Trade rules: log export bans in producer countries and deforestation rules in buyer markets can cut veneer supply quickly. Tm TimberOil Crude oilShp Ship propulsionTransport and logisticsMachinery and equipmentPeeled, glued and hot-pressed
4.85 lakhcubic metres of Century plywood, FY26At the mill, logs are peeled on rotary lathes into thin veneers, dried, coated with resin and stacked with the grain crossing at right angles, then hot-pressed into boards. Century Plyboards sold 4,85,403 cubic metres of plywood in FY26 and booked ₹2,915 crore of plywood segment income, out of ₹5,397 crore of total income.2,4
Constraint Wood supply: ITTO projects India's roundwood demand rising from 57 to 98 million m3 between 2020 and 2030. Tm TimberHCHO FormaldehydeUr UreaPhe Phenol and acetoneMachinery and equipmentMDF plants compete for the logs
₹1,284 crCentury MDF segment income, FY26The same farm-grown eucalyptus and poplar also feed MDF and particleboard plants, which chip and refine the wood into fibre and press it with resin. Investment is shifting there: Century's MDF segment income reached ₹1,284 crore in FY26, and it budgeted ₹600 crore for a greenfield MDF plant in Andhra Pradesh and ₹550 crore for particleboard near Chennai.2
Constraint Feedstock competition: every new MDF line draws on the same farm-grown wood as plywood mills, pushing up log prices around them. Tm TimberHCHO FormaldehydeUr UreaPU Polyurethanes (MDI, TDI, polyols)Paper and packagingGlue made from imported methanol
98%of India's methanol that is importedThe glue in most interior plywood is urea-formaldehyde resin, which many mills, Century included, cook in their own resin plants. Formaldehyde is made from methanol: India imports about 98% of its methanol, about 88% of it from the Middle East in April 2025 to February 2026, and formaldehyde takes about 46% of Indian methanol demand (FY26 estimate).3,2
Constraint Hormuz: the 2026 West Asia disruption pushed Indian domestic methanol prices up about 182% year on year in May, feeding straight into resin costs. MeOH MethanolHCHO FormaldehydeUr UreaPhe Phenol and acetoneSold by the sheet at the dealer
+70%roundwood demand, 2020 to 2030Plywood reaches carpenters, contractors and households through timber merchants and hardware dealers who stock many brands, thicknesses and grades and often extend credit to their trade customers. Construction took about 43% of India's roundwood demand in 2020 (calculated), and ITTO projects total demand rising nearly 70%, to about 98 million m3, by 2030.4,1
Constraint Imports rise with demand: ITTO notes that a growing share of India's wood demand is being met from abroad as domestic supply lags. Tm TimberAdh Adhesives and sealantsTransport and logisticsFinance: banking, insurance, marketsWhat the chain shows
Indian plywood rests on farmers' trees and imported methanol; wood supply and resin cost, not machines, are the chokepoints, and farm forestry is the opportunity.
Sources
- India timber supply and demand 2010-2030 (Kant and Nautiyal, Institute of Green Economy, with ITTO support) International Tropical Timber Organization, 2021
- Investor presentation, Q1 FY27 Century Plyboards (India) Ltd, 2026
- SectorVector: methanol move-away Crisil Intelligence, 2026
- Demand for wood to surge in India by 2030: new report International Tropical Timber Organization, 2021