Periodical

20
Resilient
July 23/30, 2012
Vinyl sales hit record high
By Raymond Pina
Sales of vinyl sheet and tile flooring hit a record
high wholesale value of $2.11 billion in the
U.S. last year, according to Catalina Research.
Though total 2011 vinyl floor sales grew 5.8
percent in value and 3.2 percent in volume,
it is the ongoing 15 percent growth in higher
priced luxury vinyl tile (LVT) and fiberglass
sheet flooring that has pushed the segment to
record heights.
Gains in up-market LVT and fiberglass
volume forced 2011 average vinyl floor pricing
up 2.9 percent over 2010. The category’s average
square foot price has jumped a remarkable
22 percent since 2007.
“New innovative products, many incorporating
locking systems for the first time, stimulated
demand and led to vinyl taking share from
every other category,” said Stuart Hirschhorn,
director of research, Catalina Research. “What’s
more, commercial, especially replacement
commercial, faired better during the recession
than the residential sector and vinyl has a huge
concentration of that commercial business.
2011 key points
Vinyl sheet and fl oor tile sales hit record
high with category sales increasing 5.8 percent
in value and 3.2 percent in volume.
Average square foot pricing for vinyl increased
2.9 percent this year over last year
and increased 22 percent from 2007.
Vinyl imports decreased 6.2 percent in
2011 as suppliers increase domestic
production of LVT and fiberglass sheet.
Other resilient flooring — which includes
cork, other plastics, rubber and linoleum —
increased in sales value by 4.2 percent but
decreased 2.5 percent in volume in 2011.
Average square foot pricing has increased
43.7 percent since 2007.
Chart 25
Resilient purchases by end-use market
(Total: $2,396.3 million)
0.6%
0.1%
Vinyl floors also had the highest increases in
pricing due to record oil and raw material costs
but they still remained competitive and highly
desirable, if not more so.”
Sales of commercial vinyl composition
tiles (VCT) also grew an estimated 3.3 percent
in volume to 1.01 billion square feet,
according to Hirschhorn.
Leading executives, who have reported double-digit
increases in their LVT and fiberglass
businesses over the past three years, agreed with
Catalina Research’s overall category growth
rates, but remain hesitant to declare 2011 a
record year.
“Having the category up 5 percent sounds
about right, but I don’t think anyone would
paint 2011 as a historically positive year,” noted
Allen Cubell, vice president, residential product
management, Armstrong Floor Products.
While LVT, fiberglass and VCT continue
to grow, Catalina Research estimates traditional
felt-backed vinyl sheet sales declined
7 percent to 907 million square feet in
2011, with volumes evenly split between the
residential and commercial markets. What’s
more, the report highlights that fiberglass
volumes, accounting for 195 million square
feet of sales in 2011, is trending to reach traditional
felt numbers by 2015.
“We see 2011 fiberglass sales at 184 million
square feet; so we’re in the same ballpark,”
said David Sheehan, vice president of
residential resilient business, Mannington.
“Residentially, we see vinyl sheet at 462 million
square feet. Sheet vinyl was up until 2010
when fiberglass sales started kicking in and
we think fiberglass now represents about 40
percent of residential sheet.”
Similarly, Catalina Research estimates
2011 LVT sales volume at 785 million square
feet. But some companies that focus primarily
on high end branded product said the
number is higher than their own estimates.
“You’d have to think a lot of that number
includes peel-and-stick tiles where the defini-
Chart 26
Vinyl sheet and floor tile market value and volume
(in billions)
3.5
3.0
2.5
2.0
1.5
1.0
0.5
0
$1.93(R)
3.27
$2.11(R)
3.25
tion of LVT kind of runs amuck,” explained
Cubell. “Lowe’s and Menards do bring in a lot
of cheap tile from Asia. If Catalina is looking
at those imported cash-and-carry tiles, then
I can understand how it gets to its number.”
Hirschhorn added, “There was a large
jump in peel-and-stick tile sales at home centers
where laminate would have traditionally
been used. There was also a record number
of new suppliers entering the LVT market.”
Imports decline, domestics grows
Despite a large number of suppliers, distributors
and retailers expanding into the vinyl
Chart 27
$1.82(R)
2.78
2007 2008 2009 2010 2011
Market sales Square feet
R=Revised
Vinyl sheet and floor tile imports value and volume
(in millions)
1600
1400
1200
1000
800
650
400
200
0
Chart 28
$605.8
1,503.7
$687.6
1,481.8
$613.8
1,247.4
$2.00(R)
$728.8
2.86
1,335.2
$2.11
$764.4
2007 2008 2009 2010 2011
2.95
1,251.8
Market sales Square feet R=Revised
Source: Catalina Research
Vinyl sheet and floor tile exports value and volume
(in millions)
400
market with imported LVT in 2011, Catalina
Research has category imports declining 6.2
percent for the year — mostly due to a shift
towards increased domestic production.
“It makes sense that vinyl imports were
down last year with both IVC US and Armstrong
making fiberglass here in the states,”
said Cubell. “We shut down a tile and VCT
plant in Montreal, Canada which brought our
imported tiles way down. And we shut our
fiberglass plant in England so our imported
fiberglass went to zero. And those import
numbers are only going to keep decreasing as
Continued on page 22
11.6%
31.2%
Commercial new construction
$747.5 million
Residential replacement
$743.5 million
Commercial replacement
$611.1 million
350
300
250
200
301.2
331.7
310.5
377.6
363.3
25.5%
Residential builders
$278.0 million
Manufactured housing
$13.8 million
150
100
50
$138.0
$160.9
$141.6
$163.8
$176.8
31.0%
Transportation equipment
$2.4 million
Source: Catalina Research
0
2007 2008 2009 2010 2011
Market sales Square feet
Source: Catalina Research