New opportunities in old buildings: Ceresana study on the world market for insulation materials

KONSTANZ, Germany - Sept. 1, 2023 - PRLog -- Ceresana's latest insulation report expects new construction activity in most countries to start recovering by the end of 2024 at the earliest. However, the renovation of old buildings remains a promising construction site. Analysts forecast that global consumption of insulation materials will grow to a total of more than 640 million cubic meters by 2032.

Subsidies for energy refurbishment

The mood in the construction industry is clearly deteriorating: a lack of labor and raw materials, rising energy and material costs, inflation and political uncertainty. One bright spot for construction companies in many places is the construction of warehouses and logistics centers for the booming online trade, not to mention data centers. Government subsidy programs for the energy-efficient refurbishment of private homes and public buildings are having a stabilizing effect. In the European Union, better thermal insulation is one of the focal points of the build-up and resilience plans for the "green transition" by 2026. However, the use of straw, hemp, wool and other renewable insulating materials is often still hampered by outdated building regulations and standards.

Insulation with rigid foam boards and mineral wool

Rigid foams made of PUR (polyurethane) and PIR (polyisocyanurate) are growing rapidly, albeit inhibited by comparatively high prices. Expandable polystyrene (EPS, known as "Styrofoam" or "airpop") and extruded polystyrene (XPS), two likewise synthetic insulating materials based on petroleum, also achieve a large market share. However, more than half of the global demand for insulation materials is currently satisfied by mineral wool, i.e. glass wool and rock wool. Sand, stone, lime and various minerals are the raw materials for mineral wool. The technical properties of insulation materials may be the same everywhere - image, costs and customer preferences are not: As with the construction industry as a whole, there are major regional differences in the consumption of insulation materials.

Fourth edition of the Ceresana market study "Insulation Materials - World":

Chapter 1 of the current edition of the Insulation Report provides a complete presentation and analysis of the global market for insulation materials, including forecasts up to 2032. In Chapter 2, production, consumption, import, export, and insulation sales are given for each of 16 the countries that are particularly relevant to the insulation market. Consumption is differentiated for the five material types: EPS, XPS, PUR / PIR, Glass wool, Stone wool.
Chapter 3 offers company profiles of the world's most important producers of insulating materials. Further information on the new market study "Insulation - World": https://ceresana.com/en/produkt/insulation-material-marke...