Insulation industry news from Global Insulation

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.

France: Saint-Gobain subsidiary Isonat is investing Euro10m in a capacity expansion to its Mably insulation wood fibre insulating panels plant. French Collection News has reported that the expansion will double the plant’s capacity to 42,000t/yr. The company says that it aims to double its sales in two years. It noted growing demand for bio-sourced materials and the availability of favourable home renovations subsidies.

Finland: Metso has launched the Outotec Mineral Wool Furnace, an electric furnace for mineral wool production. The new model is based on Metso's established proprietary equipment, used in ferroalloy and slag cleaning applications. As part of Metso's Planet Positive offering, the furnace offers reduced CO₂ emissions, high plant availability, extended life and an easily customisable modular design for specific applications.

Technology director Tom Ronnberg said “Demand for insulation materials is growing due to tightening energy efficiency requirements. At the same time, the insulation material industry is aiming for better efficiency and carbon neutrality in their production processes.”

Kazakhstan: Cormatex and the Kazakhstan Investment Development Fund say that their upcoming insulation plant will come online in 2024. Local press has reported the location of the plant as the city of Aktobe, in the region of the same name.

UK: SIG says that its full-year sales dropped by 2% year-on-year in 2023. Reuters has reported that the company nonetheless expects to record an underlying operating profit in the upper half of its forecast for the year. It said that restructuring and productivity initiatives carried out in the second half of 2023 saved an anticipated Euro11.6m. SIG expects ‘soft’ market conditions to continue in 2024.