Insulation industry news from Global Insulation

India: Rockwool India has commenced construction of a new US$65.5m mineral wool insulation plant in Cheyyar, Tamil Nadu. The Hindu newspaper has reported that the plant will produce 50,000t/yr of stone wool insulation from its commissioning in early 2026. The plant will employ 150 people and will overtake the Dahej, Gujarat, plant as Rockwool India’s largest. The subsidiary of Denmark-based Rockwool opened the 40,000t/yr Dahej plant in 2011.

Managing director Darryl Mathews said “Our non-combustible products are witnessing increasing demand in India. Additionally, we will introduce dual-density technology aimed at residential renovation and construction projects.”

Group chair Thomas Kähler said “I am pleased to announce our second investment in India. This expansion is just the beginning, as we anticipate further developments in response to the growing demand for our products.”

Sweden: Rockwool says that it plans to build a new 100,000t/yr stone wool insulation plant in Eskilstuna, Södermanland. When commissioned after June 2027, the plant will serve the Swedish and Finnish markets. It will run on low-carbon electricity from Sweden’s national grid.

Nordics regional managing director Frank Larsen said "Our customers are increasingly demanding low-carbon footprint building materials to achieve their own decarbonisation objectives as well as EU-wide targets in the Energy Efficiency and Energy Performance of Buildings directives. Rockwool's proprietary large-scale electrical melting technology, drawing on Sweden's abundant supply of low-carbon electricity, will help meet this need, which we expect to grow over time as the EU directives get implemented."

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.”

US: Rockwool North America plans to build a new US$175m stone wool insulation plant at Wallula Gap, Washington. The Denmark-based producer has acquired 101 hectares of land at the Port of Walla Walla, local press has reported. The upcoming plant will produce insulation using Washington’s abundant igneous rock.

Rockwool North America already operates two other US plants, at Byhalia in Mississippi and Ranson in West Virginia, alongside a further two in Canada. It employs 1100 people, and this will rise by 11% to over 1200 people following the entry into operation of the Wallula Gap plant.

Ukraine: The National Agency on Corruption Prevention (NACP) has added Denmark-based Rockwool to its list of “international sponsors of war” due to the company’s continued business in Russia. The government agency alleges that Rockwool has continued to supply its construction material products to various state institutions in Russia, including the Ministry of Defence, following the start of the Russia-Ukraine war in early 2022. The NACP highlighted that Rockwool operates four subsidiaries in Russia and it suggested that deliveries under state contracts were made via intermediaries in 2023.

In February 2023, The Danish Business Authority announced an investigation into Rockwool's alleged supply of its products to the Russian military, in breach of existing sanctions, between 2015 and 2020. In April 2023 Rockwool chair Thomas Kähler told the company’s annual general meeting that continuing to do business in Russia was the group’s ‘least bad option.’

Europe: Knauf Insulation has joined Daikin, Danfoss, Rockwool, Saint-Gobain, Signify and Velux to promote building energy efficiency in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE). The six companies have signed a memorandum that commits them to work together to encourage cooperation and allocation of ‘personal and financial resources’ on a country level to establish and maintain national associations equipped with the expertise to engage in public debates effectively and the skills to inspire better policies.

Radek Bedrna, Knauf Insulation’s managing director for Eastern Europe and Middle East, said “This memorandum is a powerful commitment to tackle the building and energy challenges facing CEE. It will provide the campaigning initiatives with the needed support to drive the policy changes that will be transformational for building renovation in the region.” He added that the region has five out of seven European Union (EU) countries with the highest gas saving potential arising from insulating residential buildings. Two thirds of the 43.6m homes in single- and multi-family house in the CEE region were reportedly built before 1989 and are energy inefficient.

The companies signed the document at the Central and Eastern European Energy Efficiency Forum (C4E) in late May 2023. The forum, which brought together more than 240 public authority representatives with advocacy groups, non-government organisations (NGO) and private companies, called on policy makers to roll out well-designed subsidy schemes with a long-term outlook.

Russia: Denmark-based Rockwool addressed the reasoning behind its decision to keep its Russian business operating, in light of the on-going Russian invasion of Ukraine since February 2022. Rockwool's Russian subsidiary continues to operate four stone wool insulation plants, without receiving any investments or supplies from the parent company. Esmerk M-Brain News has reported that Rockwool described itself as a 'passive shareholder' in the business.

Speaking at Rockwool's annual general meeting, chair Thomas Kähler said that the group's continuing ownership of its activities in Russia is the group’s 'least bad option.' Addressing the purported possibility of nationalisation of any assets abandoned by Rockwool, Kähler reportedly added "It will not benefit Ukraine to send value in the amount of between US$722m and US$877m into the hands of Russia."

In February 2023, The Danish Business Authority announced an investigation into Rockwool's alleged supply of its products to the Russian military, in breach of existing sanctions, between 2015 and 2020. The agency confirmed its launch of its investigation in a statement to Reuters. In a statement of its own, Rockwool said "We fully respect all sanctions applicable at any given time," adding that it is 'impossible for us to know or have any control over' the final destinations of its products.

US: The National Insulation Association (NIA) has named Armacell, Johns Manville, Knauf Insulation, Owens Corning and Rockwool Technical Insulation as its Premier Industry Manufacturers 2023. The designation celebrates leadership and industry advocacy by NIA members.

NIA executive vice president and CEO Michele Jones said “Congratulations to these five leading companies! Each year, I am impressed by the way these NIA member companies find new, innovative and tangible ways to amplify the message about the power of insulation and their commitment to NIA. These manufacturers are setting themselves apart from the pack by demonstrating the importance of involvement and leadership. We look forward to promoting them all throughout 2023.”

Denmark: Rockwool’s net sales grew by 27% year-on-year to Euro3.91bn in 2022 from Euro3.09bn in 2021. Its earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) rose by 6% to Euro638m from Euro602m. The group reported a strong start to 2022 with high demand for its stone wool insulation products. In the second half of the year it noted a decline in construction activity in key markets. However, it increased its prices leading to increased sales. By region the group said that sales grew in Europe and Asian markets, were flat in the US and declined in China.

Chief executive officer Jens Birgersson said, “Looking forward, we expect construction activity to continue slowing down in the coming period. We anticipate the energy efficiency agenda in both Europe and North America will accelerate renovation rates in the mid-term and create higher demand for our circular and non-combustible stone wool. We will continue to invest in more capacity to support our long-term growth”.

Together with the group’s chair Thomas Kähler, he also defended the company’s decision to continue the ownership of a subsidiary in Russia. “If we were to depart Russia, our factories and the intellectual property rights to our unique technology would most likely be nationalised or otherwise transferred to local players. Since the factories operate independently of our head office, they would continue to operate - just under different ownership. It therefore remains our view that retaining the business in Russia is the least bad option available to us. And of course, we will continue to comply with all international sanctions.”

Rockwool said that it had added production capacity for its Grodan agricultural stone wool range at its plant in Toronto, Canada and capacity for its Rockfon stone wool ceiling panel range at its Cigacice plant in Poland. In China it had opened a new plant at Qinyuan in December 2022 to replace its mineral wool unit at Guangzhou, which closed in September 2022. It also reported that plans to build a new stone wool plant at Soissons in France had been delayed due to a local legal challenge. Notable upgrades in 2022 included the start of a conversion project to electric melting technology from fossil fuels at the Flumroc plant in Switzerland, with a commissioning date scheduled for 2024. This project follows a similar one at the Moss plant in Norway that was completed in 2020.

Ukraine: Rockwool confirmed on 5 December 2022 that builders used some of its products in rebuilding work in Russian-occupied Mariupol, Donetsk. Rockwool clarified that it did not supply the materials, which it says had been delivered by a third party.

Rockwool's communications manager Michael Zarin said it is 'almost impossible' for the company to control distributors' activities. Zarin said "The company strongly condemns the war in Ukraine and hopes for an early solution."