In a nutshell, this is happening because more customers want cheap picture frames than expensive picture frames it’s that simple, hence this post " Thank you for reading our post "Why "composite wood" MDF picture frames are supplanting "real wood". But the reasons for and background to this answer are  deeper and more, complicated. From the probable beginnings of approximately 2000 years ago men ( and women ) cut real wood from real tree forests to make the four sticks needed for a picture frame ...