Building insulation market in anticipation of recovery

Online, April 1, 2010 (Newswire.com) - Fuelled by the improving economic situation and signs of upturn in the developer and industrial construction sectors, the market of insulation materials in Poland will start to recover in 2011-2012 after a period of slowdown. Large foreign companies, which currently occupy a vast majority of the market, will continue to dominate the market.

Slower growth of the Polish economy and fewer residential and industrial construction project starts have led to a situation that after the excellent years of 2006 and 2007, the insulation materials market shrank in the years 2008-2009. In its latest report entitled "Construction insulation materials market in Poland 2010. Development forecasts for 2010-2012", research and consulting company PMR estimates that it will not be before 2011 that this market will start to recover.
According to PMR's report, expanded polystyrene (EPS) foam is the most popular product used on the Polish market, which is why Poland is the second largest EPS market in Europe. Mineral wool is the second most frequently used material on the insulation market in Poland. Extruded polystyrene (XPS) materials and various types of foam still account for a small part of the market.
Poland's EPS market is still highly fragmented. In the recent years, there have been over 100 manufacturers operating on the market; the majority of them are small companies generating revenue of several million zloty. The largest EPS manufacturers in Poland include Termo-Organika, Swisspor, Genderka, Arbet, Yetico, Styropol and Austrotherm.
As opposed to styrofoam, production of mineral wool is a capital intensive and long term activity involving considerable funds and high technical qualifications. For these reasons, only large companies with long-standing experience in manufacturing mineral wool are present on the market. There are only seven major mineral wool manufacturers operating in Poland at present. Rockwool and Saint Gobain Isover are clear market leaders in the mineral wool market.
As noted by the authors of the report, after two years of significant declines, the first two months of 2010 saw stabilisation of Poland's mineral wool output, but steady growth should be expected only in 2011 as more new developer projects and construction tasks in the industrial and warehouse building sector move into the implementation phase.

There are approximately 60 large and medium-sized manufacturers of thermal and technical insulation materials operating in Poland; two-thirds of them focus on thermal insulation materials, slightly more than 15% of the firms manufacture technical insulation products, and over 10% are specialised in both thermal and technical insulation materials.
Nearly two-thirds of the major manufacturers of insulation materials are Polish firms which do not have a majority foreign investor. The advantage of Polish businesses in terms of company number is principally due to the fragmentation of the styrofoam manufacturing market. Hence, based on workforce size rather than the number of companies, the proportion of companies with Polish capital is slightly above 40%. The significance of companies with foreign capital becomes even more pronounced when judged by the value of sales revenue - in this case they account for more than 70% of the insulation material market.

This press release is based on information contained in the latest PMR report entitled "Construction insulation materials market in Poland 2010. Development forecasts for 2010-2012".

For more information on the report please contact:
Marketing Department:
tel. /48/ 12 618 90 00
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