Insulation industry news from Global Insulation

Czech Republic: Kingspan Czechia’s sales dropped by 22% year-on-year to €142m in 2023. Its profit also declined, by 42% to €6.27m. Throughout the year, the company produced 4.66Mm² of insulation panels, down by 4% from 2022 volumes. It reported total export sales of €108m, down by 23%. The main markets for the producer’s insulation were Germany, Austria, Switzerland and Slovakia. It holds a 25% market share in insulation sandwich panels in its native Czech Republic, up from 22% at the start of 2023. ČTK Business News has reported that Kingspan Czechia plans to begin construction of a new mineral wool insulation panels plant later in 2024.

General manager Stanislav Cihlar said "The new plant will be used to produce world-class insulation panels and will become an important pillar for our future growth.”

Czech Republic: Austria-based Austrotherm has successfully completed a 100% takeover of expanded polystyrene (EPS) producer DCD IDEAL.

Austrotherm’s CEO Klaus Haberfellner said “With the purchase of DCD, we are closing the last white spot in our core markets of Central and Eastern Europe and are thus strengthening Austrotherm's market position. DCD and Austrotherm are successful family businesses that harmonise well in terms of their corporate cultures. The takeover of DCD supports the strategy of continuing to invest in our core products EPS and extruded polystyrene (XPS).” He added “We are pleased about the opportunity to expand our climate-friendly product range for our customers, to be able to supply our XPS customers in the Czech Republic with EPS and thus to offer them an even better service."

Czech Republic: Rockwool is planning to use its Bohumin plant’s full production capacity to make mineral wool in 2017. In 2016 the unit produced a record 4Mm³ of the product and so far it has produced 80% of this in the first nine months of 2017, according to the CIA news agency. The increased production levels follow an upgrade at the site in 2015. Insulation products from Bohumin are sold locally, in Slovakia and elsewhere in Europe.

Czech Republic: Sika has agreed to acquire KVK Holding, a manufacturer of waterproofing and roofing systems, including insulation products and a range of mortar products. The transaction is subject to clearance by anti-trust authorities. KVK operates six production sites: three for the manufacture of mortar products, two for bituminous membranes and one for expanded polystyrene insulation (EPS) for building envelope solutions. With these facilities Sika will strengthen its production platform and expand its geographical footprint in the growing Czech market. KVK’s relationships with major builders’ merchants will also allow Sika to enhance its presence in the Czech market.

“KVK is a proven industry leader, with a product portfolio and geographical presence that will increase our market penetration and support our growth strategy. The acquisition also brings us manufacturing expertise for waterproofing and insulation solutions,” said Ivo Schädler, Regional Manager EMEA.

Czech Republic: Consumption of expanded polystyrene (EPS) fell by 6.8% year-on-year to 57,900t in 2016 from 62,100t in 2015. The decrease was caused by a decline of the domestic construction sector said the Czech EPS Association, according to the Czech News Agency (CTK). Local building output fell by 5.9% in 2016 according to the Czech Statistical Office (CSU).

"The decrease is being caused mainly by lengthy building permit proceedings in our country. In comparison with Germany or Austria, building permit proceedings in the Czech Republic take more than twice as long," said insulation association chairman Pavel Zemene.

Around 85% of the total EPS consumption in the country is used in the construction sector, and 50% is used for building insulation.

Czech Republic: Expanded polystyrene (EPS) consumption in the Czech Republic rose by 5% year-on-year to 29,700t in the first half of 2015, according data reported to the Czech News Agency by the Czech EPS Association. The association is expecting EPS consumption to follow the trend in 2014 and also surpass 60,000t in 2015. The increase has been attributed to growth in the construction sector and by state subsidy programmes that support building insulation systems.

"In the second half of the year, the subsidies drawn from the New Green Savings Programme (the Environment Ministry's programme focused on energy savings and renewable energy sources in family houses) should become evident. People are starting working on their insulation and given that the weather is favourable, consumption can be expected to exceed 62,000t," said Pavel Zemene, head of the association.

In 2014, 60,850t of EPS were consumed in the Czech Republic. The highest level of EPS consumption was 66,000t in 2011. The Czech Republic is one of the European Union's leading countries for per capita consumption of EPS, beating Germany, Spain, France and Italy.