Timber products that are engineered to provide improved strength, stability, aesthetic properties and resistance to degradation are known as Engineered Wood Products (EWPs). EWPs are manufactured by joining a number of timber elements together using connectors and/or adhesives to optimise the product for a specific application. EWP engineering allows for uniform and consistent properties, customised and flexible sizing and configurations specific to each application. EWPs have many advantages over traditional sawn products, including: (i) Increased value adding opportunities; (ii) Efficient resource utilisation; (iii) Ability to use low grade wood and small sizes; (iv) Greater selection of product dimensions; and (v) Improved performance consistency. The following EWP resources are currently available:

• EWP Factsheet gives an overview of engineered wood product types and applications
• EWP Videos shows how new engineered wood product designs are developed
  

Two-thirds of PNG is forested, comprising 33.6 million hectares of natural forest and between 60,000 and 70,000 hectares of planted forest. PNG's forestry industry relies predominately on exporting logs from natural forests. Timber products include raw log exports, sawn timber, veneer sheets, logs, plywood, processed timber and woodchips. Currently, only about 20% of logs are processed in-country.

PNG's domestic market for wood products is small by international measures, but appears to be significantly larger than the formal consumption data suggests. Demand for residential dwellings and small buildings is growing; providing nascent opportunities for increased utilisation of wood products, including engineered wood products (EWPs). The following resources are currently available on this topic:

• PNG Timber Trade Factsheet gives a snapshot of the trade in timber products from PNG
• PNG Market Analysis Report provides an assessment of value-adding options for PNG
• PNG Balsa Markets Report provides an assessment of the global balsa industry