The 2020 global sales figures of MMFA members show that while wood products continue to grow with a global increase in sales of + 18,82 % and rigid SPC products maintain their market penetration across all major regions with a steady growth of + 34,8 %, the growth of the ‘polymer’ product category had been affected by COVID-19 as sales only revealed a modest rise of + 3,1 % at the end of the year. Overall, sales spiked in Q3 in an attempt to recuperate the setback during Q1 due to the early days of the pandemic and tax issues with the US.
POLYMER Category: Rigid SPC floorings remain strong amid COVID-19
In 2020, global sales of polymer products slightly increased by + 3,1 % in comparison to 2019 to 79.5 million m². The key driver for this positive end-of-year result were RigidSPCproducts which continued to perform well in 2020 with 37.7 million m² sold (+ 34,8 % compared to 2019). The other polymer categories had to face setbacks with 5.2 million m² sold of RigidEPCflooring (- 14,31 % compared to 2019) and 36.7 million m² sold of LVTflooring (- 15 % compared to 2019).
The region with the greatest increase in polymer product sales was Eastern Europewhich sold 4.9 million m² in 2020 (+ 23,9 % in comparison to 2019). SPC products in the region experienced a sharp increase in sales of + 153,3 % (2.0 million m² sold) while sales of EPC (0.2 million m², – 19,3 % compared to 2019) and LVT flooring products (2.7 million m², – 0,3 % compared to 2019) both decreased. In Western Europe on the other hand, the polymer sector slightly declined by – 6,6 % in 2020 (37.5 million m² sold). As in Eastern Europe, SPC was the only product category which grew in 2020 (15.7 million m², + 28,8 % compared to 2019). This positive result balanced the comparatively weak sales in the other product categories. EPC product sales (2.2 million m²) decreased by – 13,0 % while LVT product sales (19.6 million m² sold) experienced an even greater decrease of – 22,9 %.
Similar to Europe, the SPC category was the strongest of all polymer groups in North Americawith 19.2 million m² of flooring sold (+ 37,4 % compared to 2019). The lower figures of EPC (2.5 million m², – 17,3 % compared to 2019) and LVT products (13.4 million m², + 4,0 % compared to 2019) led to a stable end-of-year result of 35.1 million m² of polymer flooring sold in North America in 2020 (+ 17,5 % compared to 2019).
Latin Americasold 0.3 million m² of polymer flooring which constitutes a decrease of – 68,5 %. In contrast to other regions, the SPC sector in Latin America faced setbacks of – 22,2 % compared to 2019 (0.2 million m² sold). Similar situations were observable in Africawhere the sales for polymer flooring decreased by – 44,5 % (0.3 million m² sold) and in Asiawhich experienced a decrease of – 21,4 % (0.9 million m² sold). The region Australia / Oceaniasold 0.4 million m² of polymer flooring (+ 9,5 % compared to 2019).
WOOD Category: Wood maintains its historic popularity
Despite the impact of the pandemic, the woodcategory performed well in 2020, with the exception of Latin America. The total sales of wood products reached 15.0 million m² in 2020, an increase of + 18,82 % compared to 2019. The region that recorded by far the greatest increase in sales is North America. With 0.1 million m², the sales more than doubled in 2020 (+171,1% compared to 2019).
With a growth rate of + 21,8 %, Eastern Europe(0.8 million m² sold) overtook the growth of Western Europe(14.0 million m², + 18,3 % compared to 2019). Germany and Austria kept their positions as the countries with the highest sales in Western Europe. In Germany, 10.3 million m² were sold (+ 25,2 % compared to 2019) while Austriarecorded sales of 1.4 million m² (+ 9,2 % compared to 2019). The same applies to the Czech Republic.As in the previous year, it was the country with the highest sales in Eastern Europe (0.4 million m², + 10 % compared to 2019).
Asiaonly recorded a small increase in sales with + 1,2 % in comparison to 2019 (0.06 million m²). The only regions where the impact of COVID-19 resulted in a decrease of sales in the wood category was Latin Americawhere sales declined by – 35,8 % (0.01 million m² sold) as well as Africa(- 5.317 thousand m², – 630,9 % compared to 2019) and Australia / Oceania (3.123 m², – 69,8% compared to 2019).