Composite panel shipments continue to improve over last year, with the latest year-to-date figures through November showing a 5.1% increase over the 2011 time period.

Masco's Mills Pride cabinetry plant will reopen in stages, after a $5 million sales by investors, including Everett Hannah, owner of Gilco International Lumber. GIlco is wooing a Chinese furniture maker.

Furniture accounting and consulting firm Smith Leonard reports that furniture orders for October climbed 6% over October 2011.

Plywood plants operating in densely populated residential areas of Perumbavor remain the target of protests by citizens over air and water pollution concerns.

Ainsworth Lumber Co. Ltd. (ANS.TO) announced its has raised $175 million through a rights offering to investors.

Minnis Woodworking, an Iowa custom woodshop destroyed by a fire, acquired a 20,000 sq.ft. plant in St. Ansgar, IA. As it relocates, Minnis will add commercial millwork to its residential cabinetry business.

What's hot? A mixed bag for sure, beginning with a video of a new table saw safety device brake and continuing with a most interesting expanding table, IKEA TV spoof by Conan O'Brien and rough-cut video of a one-man robotic cabinet shop in Quebec City.

Furniture Brands International, a leading importer and manufacturer of wood and upholstered furniture, received warning that it must improve its stock price or risk being delisted from the new York Stock Exchange (NYSE).