Insulation industry news from Global Insulation

US: Toray Industries has released plans to increase the production capacity of Toraypef polyolefin foam manufactured at Toray Plastics (America). The Japanese chemical manufacturer will invest US$39m towards building a 3000t/yr unit at its TPA Virginia Plant. The new facility is expected to start operations in the beginning of 2018. The expansion of the production facility will boost TPA's Toraypef production to 7500t/yr.

Toraypef is a polyolefin foam developed using Toray's proprietary manufacturing method, and it is adopted for various purposes including thermal insulation. Principally the product is being targeted at car production.

Taiwan: Ming Dih Group is considering cutting output at its expandable polystyrene (EPS) plants in September 2016 due to low demand in the region, according to a company source quoted by ICIS. The company previously lowered output at its plants to around 70% of production capacity in July 2016 due to poor sales. It operates a 180,000t/yr plant in Taiwan and a 50,000t/yr plant in Thailand. Products from its plants are used to make insulation panels.

Russia: TechnoNicol has opened a Euro27.6m mineral wool insulation production plant in the Khabarovsk region. The plant will have a production capacity of 0.75Mm3, according to Prime News. The products will be sold locally and via export. The company plans to export 20% of its entire output to China in 2019. The insulation producer expects the payback period for the plant to take seven years.

Belarus: The Minsk Silicate Materials Plant will be merged with the Belarusian Cement Plant following agreement between the shareholders of both companies. The merger is expected to be finalised by December 2016. The Minsk Silicate Materials plant produces construction and insulation materials, including polystyrene-based insulation products. It was originally founded in 1895. The Belarusian Cement Plant has been in operation since 1996.

Denmark: Rockwool’s earnings before interest and taxation (EBIT) have risen by 78% year-on-year to Euro64m in the first half of 2016 from Euro36m in the same period of 2015. Its sales revenue fell by 2% to Euro784m from Euro799m due to currency variations. In local currencies its revenue rose by 2.1% due to the Building insulation segment, whereas the Industrial & Technical insulation area continued to be challenged by low investment levels in the oil and gas related industries.

“I am very satisfied with the continued improvement in our performance, especially within the Insulation business. This is a result of the acceleration of our Business Transformation Program, improved market conditions in Germany and the successful expansion in the US. We are confident that we will deliver a strong result for 2016,” said chief executive officer Jens Birgersson.

Regionally, markets in Asia and North America performed well. Markets in Western Europe showed continued improvement but sales in Russia continued to fall.