Insulation industry news from Global Insulation

Russia: The St Petersburg market for sound insulation has been estimated at Euro78.5m at the end of 2013. The largest growth in demand was recorded for mineral wool at 7-10%/yr and for polystyrene at >10%/yr. Sound insulation demand is expected to grow by 15-20% in 2014.

Russia: TechnoNicol Corporation is expanding its insulation materials capacity at an existing plant in Yurga in the Kemerovo Region of southern Russia with investments totalling Euro18.6m. This includes the launch, which is due in 2015, of a new 200,000m³/yr XPS line. The line cost around Euro7.45m and will produce the company's full range of TechnoNicol XPS products. Its installation is set to meet growing demand for insulation products associated with major regional infrastructure projects, including the 29th Winter Universiade being held in Krasnoyarsk in 2019, as well as road construction and oil and gas industry infrastructure schemes.

In September 2014 TechnoNocil is due to complete another Euro9.4m investment at Yurga plant with the upgrade of its basalt wool insulation, leading to a 29% increase in output. Products from the plant will be targeted at Russian regions including western and eastern Siberia and the central Khanty-Mansiysk Autonomous region, as well as eastern Kazakhstan, north-western China and Mongolia, according to TechNicol's CEO Vladimir Markov.

Russia: Germany's Knauf has launched a new insulation materials plant in the Tyumen Region of the Urals Federal District in Russia at a total investment cost of US$83m. The installed capacity of the enterprise is 45,000t/yr. It will create 200 jobs.

Kazakhstan/China/Russia: Russia's TechnoNicol will invest Euro12.4m to build a 300,000m²/yr capacity extruded polystyrene foam (XPS) insulation plant in the Karaganda Region of Kazakhstan. The plant will start production in 2016. Its products will be supplied to all regions of Kazakhstan and south Asia.

France: Saint-Gobain and EBRD (European Bank for Reconstruction and Development) have signed an agreement whereby EBRD will increase its participation in Saint-Gobain Construction Products Rus LLC from its current stake of 11% to 33%.

The EBRD equity injection will contribute to financing Saint-Gobain Construction Products' planned investments in Russia for the next three years, including projects in the gypsum, industrial mortars and insulation activities in several regions.

The investments will reflect the Environmental and Social Action Plan that was agreed with EBRD, thereby reaffirming the commitment of Saint-Gobain Group to the highest standards in environmental performance, corporate governance and business conduct.

This operation will contribute to the acceleration of Saint-Gobain's development in Russia, in alignment with the Group's strategy of strengthening its position in fast growing markets.

Russia: Knauf Insulation expects its mineral wool insulation factory in Tyumen Oblast, Russia to reach its design capacity of 45,000t/yr in late 2014. More than Euro64.3m was invested in the project. The plant sells its products in the Ural district, Siberia, the Far East and Kazakhstan.

Russia: Finish insulation producer Paroc is preparing to open an insulation plant in Tver in December 2013. The plant will primarily produce materials for the Russian market but technical insulation materials will also be exported to European Union members, according to Russian media.

"The demand for insulation is likely to increase in Russia. The growth here has been even more rapid than in Europe," said Kari Lehtinen, CEO of Paroc Group. "Our share of the Russian market is about 2%. After launching production at full capacity, we are planning to control 7 to 8% of the Russian market."

The new plant's location was chosen because of the railway links between Tver, near Moscow, and St Petersburg. Once opened, Paroc's new plant will be the third Finnish plant in the Tverskaya Oblast region of Russia. Paroc purchased the former mineral wool plant in late 2011 and has rebuilt around 90% of the production machinery. Currently 150 workers are employed by the plant and Paroc plans to increase that number to 400 by 2015 and to 600 when development of the site is complete.

Russia: Penoplex has started its eighth insulation materials plant at Novomoskovsk, Russia, at a cost of over Euro11.4m. The plant has a production capacity of up to 0.3Mm² expanded polystyrene (EPS) insulating foam. The company produces about 2.5Mm²/yr of thermal insulation material. It manufactures extruded materials, such as products for heat insulation and water-proofing, The Russian-based insulation producer has a total of 50 distributors across Russia.

Russia: Danish insulation materials producer Rockwool is planning to invest around Euro121m in a new plant near Moscow in Russia. Nick Vince, Rockwool's top executive for Russia, says that the company has reached a limit for what it is worthwhile to invest in the existing factory in Moscow, according to Esmerk Danish News.

The need to invest in a new facility is attributed to the growing number of orders received by Rockwool in Russia amid a building boom and a political pressure to make Russia more energy-efficient.

Russia: Saint-Gobain has bought a 25.1% share in ISOROC, a Russian building materials company based in Tambov. The cost of the acquisition has not been announced nor has Saint-Gobain revealed who sold the shares. The transaction is in line with Saint-Gobain Group's expansion strategy that enables it to continue growing its insulation activity in Russia.

ISOROC is a leader in the central region of Russia for mineral wool products, the most commonly used insulation material in the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS). The company reported revenues of Euro46m in 2011.

According to the SPARK database, Germany's Erste AMSC Unternehmensbeteiligungs GmbH owned 37.94% of ISOROC as of 7 September 2012, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) owned 35.93% and Rabo Black Earth B.V. owned 7.18%.

Saint-Gobain previously announced in June 2012 that it had acquired British insulating foam producer Celotex to strengthen its position in the UK insulation market.