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Article: In the fertile heights
- Article from:
- Wood Based Panels International
- Article date:
- August 1, 1998
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1998 Polygon Media Ltd. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Richard Higgs
High in South America's Andes mountains, at about 3,000 metres and under the menacing gaze of a still active volcano, lies one of the world's newest and most unlikely medium density fibreboard (MDF) production plants.
Aglomerados Cotopaxi SA's 55,000m(3)/year MDF plant is perhaps an incongruous sight for back-packing tourists savouring the pastoral delights of Ecuador's Andean highlands and their scattered indian communities.
But the family run Ecuadorian firm behind this one year old operation has already' created a growing domestic market for its versatile panel. Today, it also presents a serious competitive threat to bigger MDF ...