Raw materials prices,trade wars,and competitive materials all conspired to make 2018 a tough year in the European flexible polyurethane foam market.Overall,flexible polyurethane foam production in Europe fell by 3.7% in 2018,Angela Austin of Labyrinth Research & Markets told delegates at the EuroPUR meeting in Portugal in mid-June.She was presenting top-line figures from the annual EuroPUR production and market survey to the meeting.Turnover was down by about 10%,she said,with the revenue figure down further than the volume decline.This is because of the fall in raw material prices in the second half of last year,she explained.According to Austin,a total of 1.24m tonnes of polyether foam was produced in the EU 28,Norway,Switzerland the Balkans and Turkey last year.’Despite all the drama and complaints and worries about the foam industry,the data we have collected suggest that [in these countries],production was only down by 3.7%,’she said.’If Russia,Turkey and the CIS countries are included,it is down by 4%.’
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