Insulation industry news from Global Insulation

France: Knauf Insulation has inaugurated a new, €100m stone wool ceiling tiles line at its Illange plant in Grand Est. In a post to LinkedIn, supervisory board member Isabel Knauf said that the line is ‘highly automated’ and built to recycle 100% of offcuts back into insulation production at the Illange plant. The new ceiling tiles line has created 50 additional jobs.

Uzbekistan: Knauf inaugurated its new 30,000t/yr Tashkent mineral wool insulation plant on 4 July 2025. Business World Magazine News has reported that the plant will produce insulation from basalt and supply the construction of 40,000 new homes per year. The plant raises Knauf's total workforce in Uzbekistan by 33%, to 440 people.

UK: France-based Saint-Gobain says that it will build a stone wool insulation plant in Melton Mowbray, Leicestershire, at the site of the former Holwell foundry. The plant will use electrical heat and be powered by renewable sources. When operational in 2027, it will have a capacity of 50,000t/yr and employ 250 people.

Romania: Alpin Szig és Szerkezet Építőipari subsidiary Mineral Insulation plans to build a €20m, 30,000t/yr-capacity mineral wool plant in Miercurea-Ciuc, Harghita County. Romania-Insider News has reported that construction will commence in mid-2025, with the plant scheduled to enter production in late 2026. The upcoming plant will occupy a former mining site, chosen for its proximity to sources of all required raw materials within 100km, as well as for its centrality in Romania. It is expected to create 70 new jobs.

Director Orban Zoltan said that the plant should enable Harghita County to become mineral wool self-sufficient.

Russia: TechnoNICOL and the Corporation for the Development of the Far East and the Arctic (KRDV) have agreed to build a new US$29.3m, 400,000m³/yr stone wool insulation plant in Khabarovsk Krai. When commissioned in late 2026 or early 2027, the plant will be TechnoNICOL’s third in the krai and will employ 140 people. Russian-owned AK&M News has reported that surveys and design documentation for the plant are scheduled for submission in June 2025.

Germany: Karl Bachl Kunststoffverarbeitung, a long-time distributor of Styrodur extruded polystyrene (XPS) insulation, has entered into an agreement to acquire the producer from chemicals company BASF. Plastverarbeiter News has reported that Styrodur’s 50 employees will stay on at BASF. The deal is scheduled for completion by 30 June 2025.

Russia: Knauf is seeking to transfer its ‘entire business in Russia’ to its local management, pending the approval of Russian authorities. The Kyiv Independent newspaper has reported that Knauf elected for the transfer in order to protect the jobs of 4000 employees in the country.

US: Rockwool North America plans to build a new US$175m stone wool insulation plant at Wallula Gap, Washington. The Denmark-based producer has acquired 101 hectares of land at the Port of Walla Walla, local press has reported. The upcoming plant will produce insulation using Washington’s abundant igneous rock.

Rockwool North America already operates two other US plants, at Byhalia in Mississippi and Ranson in West Virginia, alongside a further two in Canada. It employs 1100 people, and this will rise by 11% to over 1200 people following the entry into operation of the Wallula Gap plant.

France: Soprema plans to begin building a new polyurethane (PU) insulation plant at Sausheim, near Mulhouse, in mid-late 2024. The producer says that it will invest Euro50m and enter production at the upcoming plant in 2026. When operational, the Sausheim insulation plant will complement Soprema’s existing Saint-Julien-du-Sault and Nîmes plants, and serve Grand Est, Austrian, Germany and Switzerland. The plant will generate 80 direct jobs and a similar number again of indirect jobs.

Hungary: Masterplast reported sales worth Euro114m during the first nine months of 2023. This represents a year-on-year decline of 31% from Euro164m in the corresponding period in 2022. The producer’s earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) losses were Euro2.93m, compared to a positive figure of Euro19.3m. During the third quarter of 2023, sales declined in Hungary by 45% and across its export markets by 26%. They rose by 21% in Poland, by 8% in Croatia and by 2% in Ukraine.

Masterplast attributed its sales decline to low demand due to global inflation and rising interest rates amid on-going lockdowns, energy crises and war in Ukraine, while energy-saving renovation initiatives have also been subject to delays. The company set a savings target of Euro2m/yr and laid off 250 employees, including 210 from its plants in Serbia. It completed the construction of new expanded polystyrene (EPS) and extruded polystyrene (XPS) capacity in Italy and Serbia, which it expects to bring online later in 2023.