QIONGLAI CITY, CHINA –According to the FORDAG Network, China’s first furniture export industrial zone will be built on a 328-acre site in Qionglai City of Sichuan Province. Construction for the zone will begin in January 2008 and be completed by 2010. The purpose of the zone is to allow Sichuan furniture enterprises to have production capacity. More than 50 Sichuan furniture production enterprises will be centralized in the zone.

MISSISSAUGA, ON – Teachers’ Private Capital, the private investment arm of the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan, has completed the purchase of specialty resins and paper overlays producer Dynea North America from Dynea Chemical Oy of Finland. Terms of the sale were not disclosed.

GRAND RAPIDS, MI – Stiles Machinery Inc. announced that it acquired the Howard S. Twichell Co. of Addison, TX. The acquisition will enable Stiles to better serve its customers in the TX and OK markets. The Howard S. Twichell Co.

MONTREAL – Conifex Inc., a newly-formed forestry and sawmilling company, announced it is acquiring Domtar’s Forest Products Division, including sawmills and timber rights in Quebec and Ontario. “Our goal is to become the leader in forestry and sawmilling in Eastern Canada and the business we are acquiring provides us with a solid foundation to build upon,” said Ken Shields, chair of the board of directors of Conifex.

CLEVELAND - Sales of decorative laminates in the United States are forecast to increase 3.8% per year to 16.6 billion square feet in 2011, valued at $8.2 billion. Gains will be sparked by increased demand from the flooring industry, where the market for laminate flooring is projected to advance 9.6% per annum to 1.5 billion square feet in 2011, according to The Freedonia Group Inc., an industry market research firm.

WASHINGTON – The United States Commerce Department reported that housing starts rose 2.3% in June to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.467 million following downward revisions for the previous two months. However, building permits were down sharply for both single-family and multi-family construction. Permit authorizations fell to their lowest level since December 1996 and now stand 43% below the recent peak in the fall of 2005.

ADRIAN, MI – The third phase of Merillat’s research, Kitchen 4mula, is part of an ongoing study with the goal of gathering valuable information on how builders and kitchen and bath professionals can better design kitchens, as well as sell more homes and upgrades. The first two phases, Model Behavior I and Model Behavior II, took an in-depth look at how people act, think and shop in a model home.

Cabinetmaker Fined by EPA

LINCOLNSHIRE, IL – The Cabinet Makers Assn. and Vance Publishing Corp. have entered into an agreement to work closely together on a first-ever CMA special section and the 2008 National Cabinet Conference.

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Consumer Products Safety Commission announced that Milwaukee Electric Tool Co. of Brookfield, WI, has issued a voluntary recall of about 1 million batteries used with its power tools. The CPSC said Milwaukee Electric Tool has received 35 reports of incidents, including 11 injuries from battery packs exploding while in use. Reported injuries include minor cuts, bruises and some hearing loss.