Uzbekistan: Representatives of China-based Wonderful International Investment Group attended a meeting with the government of Toshkent region on 4 August 2026. Trend News has reported that the parties discussed the producer’s plans for an insulation panel plant in Nurafshon. Governor Zoyir Mirzayev reportedly laid out possible incentives and conditions for foreign investment in the region. Following the conclusion of the meeting, Mirzayev showed delegates potential sites for the eventual plant.
Tajikistan: An unspecified private company has produced its first batch of stone wool insulation at a newly-built plant in Tursunzoda, Central Government District. The plant uses locally-sourced basalt from the nearby Qaratogh Gorge mine as raw material. Its inauguration will coincide with the 35th anniversary of Tajik independence on 9 September 2026. Asia-Plus Daily News has reported that the plant is the first of its kind in Tajikistan.
Tajikistan more than doubled its second-half imports of stone wool in 2025, to 2500t, worth US$2m. China supplied 1700t (68%), while Kazakhstan supplied 515t (21%). Smaller volumes came from Belarus, Iran, Lithuania, Türkiye and the UAE.
Croatia: Knauf Insulation has commissioned a new €120m, 60,000t/yr-capacity electric melting line for stone wool production at its Novi Marof insulation plant. The line is equipped with a submerged arc furnace and is capable of using up to 50% recycled raw material.
Technical director Leon Bustin said "This will add a selection of lower-embodied-carbon rock mineral wool products available to our customers, for applications such as flat roofs and sandwich panel boards."
Hungary: Masterplast recorded sales of €101m in the first half of 2026, up by 53% year-on-year. The producer partly attributed the growth to a 17% increase in sales of insulation. In Hungary, turnover more than doubled to €53.2m. The group turned a profit after tax of €5.2m, up from a loss of €4.6m in the first half of 2025.
The producer noted that existing inventories and a broad raw material supplier base protected its profitability against raw material price rises driven by the on-going Iran war.
