Among the various hose types, demand for fluid power hose stood out as a star performer due to robust growth in US oil and gas production. Over the 2010-2015 period, sales of fluid power hose increased at an impressive average annual rate of 21%, largely attributable to rising sales in the US oil and gas industry. US oil and gas output (in terms of British thermal units) saw average annual gains of 7.6% over the 2010-2015 period, nearly three times the 2.6% average yearly growth from 2005 to 2010.

Design trends in nonresidential buildings are increasingly making energy efficiency and environmental friendliness a priority. In few markets is this more evident than in the commercial window and door market. 

How is the commercial market different from the residential market?

The residential market is more directly impacted by energy standards, such as those of the ENERGY STAR program. These are regularly updated and often come with federal tax breaks for homeowners. Additionally, homeowners immediately benefit from the energy bill savings and more comfortable indoor environments associated with efficient windows and doors. 

The recent announcement from Shaw Industries that it intends to acquire USFloors demonstrates the increasing demand for wood-plastic composite (WPC) flooring in the US.

WPC flooring — which consists of luxury vinyl tile (LVT) with a WPC core that serves as a backing — was introduced to the US by USFloors in 2013. This flooring’s attractive appearance and durability caused it to quickly gain acceptance among interior designers and homeowners. Seeking to capitalize on its popularity, several other hard surface flooring manufacturers developed their own lines of WPC flooring. 

Homeowners are remodeling again. They are on the lookout for products that compete with traditional high-end materials but come with a mid-range price tag. The underlying strength of the US housing market and the rising valuations of people’s homes are supporting robust activity in residential improvement, repair and remodeling.

This fact is underscored by the recent earnings of several big-box/DIY retail chains like Lowe’s and Home Depot. Home Depot reported in August that comparable (same store) sales rose by 4.7% in Q2 2016 over the same period in 2015 [1], and Lowe’s reported a similar 4.0% rise for its Q2 same store sales over 2015 [2]. Both stores expect full-year same store sales growth for 2016 to range between 4.4% and 4.9% as compared to the latest US Federal Reserve estimate of 2016 growth of approximately 2.0% [3]. Home Depot’s CEO, Craig Menear, specifically called out generally rising home valuations as the basis for his company’s optimism going forward regarding sales growth and overall residential renovation spending.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and the Environmental Protection Agency issued new Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) targets in August 2012, which increased the fuel economy requirements of light vehicles to an industry average of 35.5 miles per gallon (mpg) for model year 2016. The expectation for CAFE in model year 2025 is about 50 mpg.

As light vehicle manufacturers continue to increase fuel efficiency, they are scrutinizing input choices, including sheet metals such as steel and aluminum, in an effort to reduce vehicle weight and fuel consumption. These shifts in the motor vehicle industry are of particular import to sheet metal suppliers; transportation equipment represented the largest market for sheet metal in 2015, and motor vehicle stampings account for a large portion of the demand.

The expansion of natural gas production in the US has changed the landscape of thermoplastics. The largest building block in the industry, ethylene, can be produced from derivatives of crude oil or natural gas. Over the past few years, the increased production of natural gas in the US, supported by technological improvements related to horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing, caused the price of natural gas to see average annual declines of 11% between 2005 and 2015. This price shift, along with elevated oil prices throughout the past decade, caused many thermoplastic producers to prefer natural gas over oil in their production of feedstocks.

Expansion has always been key to the world flat glass industry. Since it’s impractical to ship glass long distances, companies must open a new plant whenever they enter a new intended market. But with the cost to open a float plant with a 500 metric ton per day capacity between $150 and $200 million, flat glass producers must be sure that such a large investment will pay off. As a result, in recent years more companies have been expanding in developing areas, where less mature markets have a greater potential for growth.

Carbon fiber has been touted as the material of the future for decades. Reinforced plastics (called composites) with carbon fiber are several times stronger and several times lighter than steel or aluminum. The problem, of course, is that carbon fiber composites are also much more expensive — anywhere from $40 per pound to $500 per pound depending on the application. 

However, carbon fiber has recently scored its first major commercial success, in the aerospace market. Aircraft manufacturers such as Boeing and Airbus had been experimenting with carbon fiber composites for a number of years, but the material was never able to be used for large aircraft structures such as the wings or body. That all changed with the Boeing 787 Dreamliner, which uses carbon fiber composites for the main structure, accounting for about half of total weight of the plane.

A forecast from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration predicting a near- or above-normal 2016 Atlantic hurricane season (after years of below-normal activity) throws the importance of impact-resistant windows and doors — sturdy-framed, multi-pane products designed to withstand violent winds and windborne debris — into sharp relief.   

On June 22^nd, President Barack Obama signed into law the Frank R. Lautenberg Chemical Safety for the 21^st Century Act, an update to the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) that will make a number of changes affecting the solvent industry and other chemical suppliers. While these changes give the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) greater control over the evaluation and regulation of chemicals, and could potentially have profound effects on the solvent industry for years to come, on the whole solvent suppliers are likely to fare well in the new regulatory environment.