Laminate flooring market remains stable for 2017 - Total sales of 477 million m2 – Renewed growth particularly in Asia

In 2017, manufacturers within the EPLF association achieved worldwide sales of laminate flooring made in Europe totalling 477 million m2 (2016: 477 million m2). This figure shows that the global laminate market is maintaining its position at a high level. The EPLF “home market” of Western Europe continued to decline in 2017, whilst Asia again registered the biggest growth. However, North America and Latin America also showed an upward trend in 2017, and in Eastern Europe the Russian market in particular saw gains. 

In Western Europe (including Turkey), total sales for 2017 reached 243 million m2 (Previous Year 250 million m2), which represents a drop of 2.9% compared to the previous year. Germany remains by far the major single market in Central Europe with 57 million m2 (PY 63 million m2) – albeit with a 10% decline caused by the continuing trend towards substitution with thermoplastic flooring.

France continues to occupy second place in Europe, demonstrating a slight improvement for 2017 with 37.6 million m2 (PY 37.4 million m2). The United Kingdom continued the positive trend for EPLF members: a figure of 33.8 million m2 (PY approx. 33 million m2) was recorded for 2017, an increase of 2.5%. This again puts the UK in third place ahead of Turkey, where association revenues continued to decline in 2017: sales figures for Turkey fell by 9.2% down to 24.9 million m² (PY 27.5 million m²). The Netherlands stands firmly in fifth place with slightly increased sales figures of 19.7 million m² (PY 19.3 million m²). Again, Spain follows on behind at a stable level of just under 17 million m² (PY 17 million m²). 

For Eastern Europe, the increase in 2017 was slightly smaller than in the previous year. This region is nevertheless still a major growth market for EPLF manufacturers – at 128 million m2 (PY 126 million m2), European laminate manufacturers there achieved an increase of 1.9%. Since 2015, the EPLF has been aware that just under 20 million m² of laminate produced by Russian member companies have not been accounted for in the statistics for various reasons. In 2017, EPLF members in Russia reported sales of 35 million m² (PY 34 million m²), which corresponds to a growth rate of 5.2%. Poland achieved just under 31 million m² in 2017 (PY 31 million m²), a steady result. Romania exhibited a slightly weaker result with 13.2 million m2 (PY 13.6 million m²). Behind them, in the same order as before, are: Ukraine with 7.4 million m² (PY 6.2 million m²), a growth rate of 18.4%, Hungary at 6.5 million m² (PY 6.2 million m²) and Bulgaria with 5 million m² (PY 5 million m²).

North America continues to be a strong growth region for sales of European laminate flooring: at 49 million m2 (PY 47 million m2), around 4.7% more was sold there in 2017 than in the previous year. At around 32 million m2 for 2017 (PY 29 million m2), the USA saw a gain of 8.1%, whilst Canada recorded just under 18 million m² for 2017 (PY 18.1 million m²). 

The biggest increase in 2017 was again achieved in the Asia Pacific region, where EPLF producers reached total sales for 2017 of over 29 million m² (PY 27 million m²), thereby gaining an increase over the previous year of around 8.7%. Undisputedly in first place again for Asia in 2017 was China (including Hong Kong) where 9.6 million m2 were sold (PY 8.6 million m²), representing an increase of approx. 10.8% over the previous year. The EPLF has seen very pleasing growth in Kazakhstan, where figures have only been gathered since 2016: 3.6 million m2 sold, an increase of over 39% (PY 2.8 million m2). Israel notched up 2.2 million m² (PY 2.4 million m2,), Saudi Arabia remains stable at 2.7 million m² (PY 2.7 million m2) and Taiwan reached just under 1.8 million m2 (PY 1.6 million m2), a rise of over 18%. 

The Latin America region is again managing to increase its EPLF sales statistics: 2017 saw a 3% growth with sales of 17.7 million m2 (PY 17 million m2). Figures for Chile, the largest single market, rose by 4.6% compared with the previous year and came to 7.7 million m² (PY 7.3 million m²). Mexico recorded 4.3 million m² (PY 4.3 million m²), Columbia registered 1.6 million m² (PY 1.5 million m²), and figures for Argentina climbed to 2.1 million m² (PY 1.4 million m²). 

Attachments: 
elnd1802_b1-b7: EPLF Sales Charts for 2017, including

elnd1802_b1: World Sales 2007-2017 (© EPLF)
elnd1802_b2: Sales by World Market Region 2017 (© EPLF)
elnd1802_b3: Sales in Western Europe 2017 (© EPLF)
elnd1802_b4: Sales in Eastern Europe: 2017 (© EPLF)
elnd1802_b5: Sales in Asia 2017 (© EPLF)
elnd1802_b6: Sales in North America: 2017 (© EPLF)
elnd1802_b7: Sales in Latin America 2017 (© EPLF)