European Mineral Wool Imports Fall Owing to Declining Purchases in France and Italy

European Mineral Wool Imports Fall Owing to Declining Purchases in France and Italy

IndexBox has just published a new report: ‘EU – Slag Wool, Rock Wool And Similar Mineral Wools And Mixtures – Market Analysis, Forecast, Size, Trends And Insights’. Here is a summary of the report’s key findings.

In 2020, European mineral wool imports dropped by -6.5% y-o-y to 1.3M tonnes. In value terms, they declined to $1.3B. France, Italy, Germany, Austria, Poland, Sweden, Romania, the Czech Republic and Belgium account for 74% of the total import volume in the EU. Last year, France, Germany and Italy saw a reduction in the volume of purchases from abroad. In 2020, the mineral wool import price in Europe remained relatively unchanged compared to the figures of the previous year.

Mineral Wool Imports in the EU
In 2020, approx. 1.3M tonnes of slag wool, rock wool and similar mineral wools and mixtures were imported in the EU, which was -6.5% lower compared with the year before. In value terms, mineral wool imports declined to $1.3B (IndexBox estimates) in 2020.

France (182K tonnes), Italy (147K tonnes), Germany (139K tonnes), Austria (102K tonnes), Poland (82K tonnes), Sweden (81K tonnes), Romania (79K tonnes), the Czech Republic (64K tonnes) and Belgium (56K tonnes) represented roughly 74% of total imports of slag wool, rock wool and similar mineral wools and mixtures in 2020. The following importers – Latvia (37K tonnes), Slovenia (34K tonnes), Finland (30K tonnes) and the Netherlands (30K tonnes) – together made up 10% of total imports.

France (-3.9% y-o-y), Italy (-10.0% y-o-y) and Germany (-10.0% y-o-y) reduced their purchases in physical terms against the previous year. Among other countries, Poland (-16.4% y-o-y) saw the most prominent drop in terms of import volume.

In value terms, Germany ($193M), France ($165M) and Italy ($128M) constituted the countries with the highest levels of imports in 2020, with a combined 38% share of total imports. These countries were followed by Austria, Belgium, Sweden, Poland, the Czech Republic, Romania, Finland, the Netherlands, Latvia and Slovenia, which together accounted for a further 45%.

In 2020, the mineral wool import price in the EU amounted to $1,014 per tonne, remaining relatively unchanged against the previous year. There were significant differences in the average prices amongst the major importing countries. In 2020, the country with the highest price was Finland ($1,548 per tonne), while Romania ($650 per tonne) was amongst the lowest. In 2020, the most notable rate of growth in terms of prices was attained by Belgium, while the other leaders experienced more modest paces of growth.

Source: IndexBox Platform