Insulation industry news from Global Insulation

Europe: Market research company Freedonia Group has forecast a 3% composite annual growth rate in European insulation demand over the five-year period between 2023 and 2028. This will result in a market value of €9.44bn, corresponding to volumes of 3.2Mt, in 2028. Drivers of the anticipated growth include tighter fire safety regulations and the cost effectiveness of mineral wool insulation.

Greece: Austria-based Austrotherm has acquired insulation producer Monosi for an undisclosed sum. PlastEurope News has reported that Austrotherm will retain Monosi’s Chalkida extruded polystyrene (XPS) insulation boards plant and its branding. As a result of the acquisition, Austrotherm now controls 29 European plants.

Austrotherm previously announced on 26 September 2024 that it was in on-going negotiations to acquire a further insulation producer in Türkiye.

Sweden: Saint-Gobain Ecophon has entered into a deal to acquire wood wool products company Träullit. Saint-Gobain Ecophon said that the acquisition will complete its existing portfolio of wall and ceiling products.

Saint-Gobain Ecophon CEO Pierre-Emmanuel Thiard said “Träullit has a Swedish legacy to be proud of, and we are happy to start a new journey together to develop this offer. The integration with Ecophon will broaden Träullit’s current sales focus from Scandinavia into further European markets and accelerate growth thanks to Ecophon’s complete solution portfolio and experienced research and development division.”

Europe: US-based Owens Corning has joined the European Alliance to Save Energy (EU-ASE). The producer said that its membership in the alliance will help in its drive for best practices in material innovation and energy efficiency in Europe.

Owens Corning’s Europe regional regulatory and sustainability senior counsel said “Owens Corning is honoured to join the EU-ASE. This is an exciting opportunity to strengthen our partnerships with key stakeholders and continue to build a sustainable future through material innovation. We are committed to the European Green Deal objectives and will continue to share best practices and knowledge across industries on key sustainability topics, such as energy efficiency, sustainability and digitalisation, while contributing to the green transition in Europe.”

US: Owens Corning has appointed Nicolas Del Monaco as the president of its insulation business with effect from 15 September 2023. He will succeed Todd Fister in the post, who is taking over the role of chief financial officer. Del Monaco will report directly to chair and chief executive officer Brian Chambers and serve as a member of the company’s executive committee.

Del Monaco joined Owens Corning in 2000 and currently serves as senior vice president and managing director of the company’s European operations, leading a team of 4400 employees spanning both the Insulation and Composites businesses. Prior to that, he served as vice president of non-wovens and glass reinforcements Europe. During his tenure with the company, he has also held a variety of finance, operations and general management roles.

Europe: Ireland-based Kingspan has signed an agreement with Germany-based wood products group Schramek to acquire a 51% stake in wood-based insulation producer Steico for an initial Euro251m. The Irish Times newspaper has reported that the group may pay more, if Steico reaches agreed-upon profitability thresholds. The agreement includes an option for Kingspan to also purchase a further 10% stake. Steico operates 27 insulation lines across four plants in Poland and France.

Kingspan CEO Gene Murtagh said “The acquisition of a majority stake in Steico represents an exciting next step in our strategy to provide the full spectrum of insulation products. Its suite of wood-based building envelope solutions broadens our ability to enable our customers to meet their sustainability and energy performance needs. Kingspan’s global routes to market, paired with our drive to innovate and widen the applications of Steico’s current technologies, are key to our plans to bring Steico bio-based solutions to the next level.”

Europe: Knauf Insulation has joined Daikin, Danfoss, Rockwool, Saint-Gobain, Signify and Velux to promote building energy efficiency in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE). The six companies have signed a memorandum that commits them to work together to encourage cooperation and allocation of ‘personal and financial resources’ on a country level to establish and maintain national associations equipped with the expertise to engage in public debates effectively and the skills to inspire better policies.

Radek Bedrna, Knauf Insulation’s managing director for Eastern Europe and Middle East, said “This memorandum is a powerful commitment to tackle the building and energy challenges facing CEE. It will provide the campaigning initiatives with the needed support to drive the policy changes that will be transformational for building renovation in the region.” He added that the region has five out of seven European Union (EU) countries with the highest gas saving potential arising from insulating residential buildings. Two thirds of the 43.6m homes in single- and multi-family house in the CEE region were reportedly built before 1989 and are energy inefficient.

The companies signed the document at the Central and Eastern European Energy Efficiency Forum (C4E) in late May 2023. The forum, which brought together more than 240 public authority representatives with advocacy groups, non-government organisations (NGO) and private companies, called on policy makers to roll out well-designed subsidy schemes with a long-term outlook.

Europe: Dow has announced the European launch of V PLUS Perform Next, a polyurethane (PU) insulation product for use in insulated metal panels. V PLUS Perform Next insulation contains alternative raw materials from circular feedstocks, including bio-based feedstocks. Dow allocates the feedstocks based on a mass balance chain of custody, validated by International Sustainability and Carbon Certification (ISCC). It produces V PLUS Perform Next using over 25% renewable energy.

Dow PU construction insulation marketing fellow Alberto Mercati said “The new EU Energy Performance of Buildings directive adds urgency for buildings that require energy efficient insulation with decreased embodied carbon. For the last five years, V PLUS Perform has enabled insulated metal panel manufacturers to deliver building envelopes that couple energy efficiency and fire safety. V PLUS Perform Next supports insulated panel manufacturers to select lower carbon and circular construction ingredients from the design phase to the delivery of a novel class of products for more sustainable buildings.”

World: US-based Huntsman has announced a natural gas surcharge of Euro125/t on its sales of methylene diphenyl diisocyanate (MDI) in Europe, India and the Middle East and Africa (MEAF), in response to an ‘unprecedented’ rise in natural gas prices in the region. The measure entered effect on 1 October 2021. The company says that this has adversely affected the energy inputs, intermediates and multiple feedstock costs incurred in its MDI production.
The new surcharge will operate in conjunction with any previously announced MDI price increases.

Huntsman's Polyurethanes president Tony Hankins said "Huntsman is already working with its customers to manage the impact of the surcharge, which was necessary to respond to the unexpected and unprecedented increase in our production costs."

Belgium: Dominique Bossan has stepped into the roles of head of Knauf Insulation and member of Knauf Insulation Europe/Middle East/Africa’s management committee. Bossan first joined Knauf Insulation in 2003 and has since held roles as Eastern Europe regional managing director and as a member of Knauf Gypsum Western Europe, South America and Israel’s management. He now returns to Knauf Insulation’s headquarters in Visé, Belgium, to take over leadership from Jean-Claude Carlin, who has held the position since 2016.

Bossan said “Jean-Claude, the management team and everyone at Knauf Insulation should be exceptionally proud of what has been achieved in recent years. I am now looking forward to maximising this success to create exciting new opportunities in the future — a future defined by our leadership and innovation For a Better World.”

General partner Alexander Knauf said “The Knauf Group management is delighted to welcome Dominique to this exciting role. He is an exceptional leader who knows our business extremely well. We are confident he will build on the outstanding results Jean-Claude, and the company, has achieved in recent years.”