Laminate flooring market shows positive trend for 2016 - Total sales of 477 million m² – Strong positive growth in Asia and USA

In 2016, producers belonging to the EPLF reported worldwide sales of 477 million m2 of laminate flooring manufactured in Europe (2015: 452 million m2). This equates to an increase of 5.6% when compared to the same period in the previous year. The EPLF’s “home market” of Western Europe remained broadly stable during 2016. Both North America and Asia once again registered significant, double-digit growth rates in 2016, and in Eastern Europe, impressive increases were predominantly seen in the relatively large markets such as Russia, Poland and Rumania. EPLF laminate flooring sales in South America remained broadly stable in 2016. 

Sales in Western Europe (including Turkey) in 2016 reached the figure of 250 million m2 (2015: 254 million m²), which represents a slight decrease of 1.5% compared to the previous year. With 63 million m² sold (2015: 66 million m²), a decrease of 3.6%, Germany remains by far the most important single market in Central Europe. 

France remained stable in 2016 with 37 million m² (previous year: 37 million m²) and continues to occupy second place in Europe. The United Kingdom continued its positive upward trend for EPLF members: in 2016, it registered sales of 33 million m² (prev. year 31 million m²), an increase of nearly 8%. This puts it in third place ahead of Turkey, where turnover for Association members slumped again in 2016: laminate sales fell there by approx. 15% down to 27 million m² (previous year: 31 million m²). The Netherlands can lay claim to fifth place with over 19.3 million m² (previous year 19.1 million m²). Spain follows on behind with nearly 17 million m² (prev. year 15 million m²), an increase of 8.7%. 

Once again, considerably more EPLF laminate was sold in Eastern Europe in 2016 than in the previous year – at 126 million m² (prev. year 111 million m²), European laminate floor producers in that area achieved an increase of 13.4%. Since 2015, the Association has been aware of approx. 20 million m² of products made by our EPLF members in Russia that have not, for various reasons, been captured in the statistics. In 2016, Russian members of the EPLF reported sales of nearly 34 million m² (prev. year 29 million m²), which means they achieve a growth rate of 16.7%. Poland registered nearly 31 million m² in 2016 (previous year: 28 million m²), a rise of 8.6%. An equally positive trend was seen in Romania with 13.6 million m² (prev. year 11.1 million m²). Subsequent places in the ranking are occupied by Ukraine with 6.2 million m² (previous year 4.7 million m²) together with Hungary and Bulgaria at 5 million m² each.
 
In North America, the EPLF’s series of successes in European laminate flooring continues for the fourth year in a row: with 47 million m² in 2016 (prev. year: 39 million m²), this region once again managed to increase its growth rate, with 22.6% more sales than in the previous year. The USA demonstrated an increase of 18% in 2016 with 29 million m² (previous year 25 million m²) and, during the same period, Canada achieved an increase of 30% with 18 million m² (prev. year: 14 million m²). 

The situation looks similarly positive in Asia-Pacific, where EPLF producers reached total sales of around 27 million m² for 2016 (prev. year 17 million m²), thereby gaining an increase over the previous year of around 54%. However, it is necessary here to take into account the effect of statistical analysis, because the EPLF country list has been extended, which means that some countries that previously fell in the category “Other Countries” have been identified during the reporting year 2016 and have been allocated to Asia – Kazakhstan, for example (with 2.8 million m²), Uzbekistan (with 0.8 million m²), Azerbaijan and Kyrgyzstan (each with 0.7 million m²). The largest growth in Asia in 2016 was accounted for by the Chinese market including Hong Kong; sales there came to 8.6 million m² (prev. year 5.6 million m²), which equates to a rise of 53% compared to the previous year. Israel reached 2.4 million m² (prev. year 2.5 million m2), the figure for Saudi Arabia was 2.7 million m² (prev. year 2.8 million m2) and for Taiwan it was 1.6 million m2 (prev. year 1.5 million m2). 

Latin America remained broadly stable in 2016 with 17 million m² (prev. year: 17 million m²). The sales figures in the largest single market of Chile rose by 7.5% in comparison with the previous year at 7.3 million m² (prev. year 6.8 million m²). Mexico recorded 4.3 million m² (prev. year: 4.5 million m²), Columbia registered 1.5 million m² (prev. year: 2 million m²) and Argentina’s figures went down to 1.4 million m² (prev. year: 1.8 million m²). 

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Attachments: MMFA Sales Charts for 2016 
elnd1702_b1: World Sales 2007-2016 (© EPLF)
elnd1702_b2: Sales by World Region 2016 (© EPLF)
elnd1702_b3: Sales in Western Europe 2016 (© EPLF)
elnd1702_b4: Sales in Eastern Europe: 2016 (© EPLF)
elnd1702_b5: Sales in Asia 2016 (© EPLF)
elnd1702_b6: Sales in North America: 2016 (© EPLF)
elnd1702_b7: Sales in Latin America 2016 (© EPLF)