Insulation industry news from Global Insulation

UK: Knauf Insulation UK & Ireland is preparing to build a €200m rock mineral wool plant to supply the UK market. The company is currently discussing with the authorities where the plant will be situated. The unit will have a production capacity of over 100,000t/yr and will use low-carbon electric melting technology. It is anticipated the additional capacity will become available in 2026.

Neil Hargreaves, Knauf Insulation’s Managing Director for Northern Europe, said "Following the €50m investment across our two UK glass mineral wool plants in 2023 - 2024, this represents another exciting development for the business and our valued customers, as well as a further sign of confidence from Knauf Group in the future growth of the UK and Northern European mineral wool markets. The investment represents a step change in the capacity, capability, and sustainability of our UK rock mineral wool solutions, whilst significantly contributing towards Knauf Group’s ambitious sustainability goals."

Denmark: Rockwool’s net sales grew by 6% year-on-year to €918m in the first quarter of 2024 from €866m in the same period in 2023. Its earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) rose by 32% to €216m from €164m. It attributed the growth in sales on higher volumes, but it noted that its product mix had adversely affected sales. The group’s insulation segment did particular well due to higher sales volumes in Eastern Europe, North America and South Asia.

CEO Jens Birgersson said “Prices have remained broadly stable during the quarter, with demand remaining solid in North America and parts of Asia. The Insulation segment performed well overall on sales and earnings, whereas performance was more challenged in the Systems segment. I am pleased that we successfully started up our new green energy technology in Switzerland – the biggest stone wool electric melter in the world.”

Argentina: The Ministry of Economy has removed anti-dumping tariffs imposed upon imports of glass wool from Mexico. The decision follows an investigation requested by Saint-Gobain, according to Forbes. The government placed a tariff of 67% on the products in 2012 and this was later renewed in 2018 at the prompting of Saint-Gobain Argentina. Reportedly Saint-Gobain reached a glass wool capacity utilisation rate of 93% in 2023 and the company covers two-thirds of the market.

Spain: URSA says it used 35,800t of recycled materials to produce glass wool and extruded polystyrene (XPS) products in 2023. Just under 70% of the raw materials used to manufacture glass wool and XPS came from waste streams from sectors including car and food manufacture.

The subsidiary of Belgium-based Etex has also been granted a new Environmental Quality Assurance certifying that it recycles at least 60% of the raw materials used in its glass wool. Other recent sustainability milestones include an increase in the amount of recycled material the company uses in its packaging. Glass wool products from its El Pla de Santa Maria plant contain a primary sheet with a minimum of 50% of recycled plastic and the packaging of its XPS range includes a primary sheet with up to 30% of recycled plastic.

Kazakhstan: Russia-based TechnoNICOL has begun building its upcoming US$124m Karaganda insulation plant. Interfax Kazakhstan Newswire has reported that the plant will export 30% of its insulation to Russia. Additionally, it will export some insulation to China, Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia and Uzbekistan.