Following better-than-expected performance in 2014 (a 2 percent increase rather than a 1 percent drop), in 2015 the construction chemicals market reported growth of approximately 5 percent, with the segments of masonry mortar and thermal insulation systems being the strongest growth drivers.
According to PMR’s latest report entitled “Construction chemicals market in Poland 2016 – Market analysis and development forecasts for 2016-2021”, the construction chemicals market’s growth can accelerate to 6 percent year on year. Moreover, the upward trend should also continue into 2017. In addition to an upturn in the residential construction segment, a strong stimulus for the construction chemicals market will come from the industrial construction and agricultural construction segments, whose growth is poised to accelerate. Combined, these segments represent almost two-thirds of total non-residential floor area. Furthermore, the popularity of ready-mix mortar offered by manufacturers is also expected to increase further. However, declines are likely to take place after 2017, mostly in the wake of a reduced number of residential projects. Still, the fate of the construction chemicals market in the years following 2017 will mainly depend on the new government’s residential development policy.
The outlook for residential construction is very positive on the back of high sales of new flats built by developers in 2015 (up by over one-quarter) and a recovery among individual investors (6 percent growth in housing starts and a 15 percent surge in building permits). After the market reached 14 million sqm in 2015, we expect the annual area of new projects to increase to 16.5 million sqm in the 2016-2017 period.
As every year, the surveyed renovation and construction companies were asked about their current financial standing, the expected financial positions in the next 12 months, the value of the backlog and their headcount. Based on responses we receive, we are able to prepare the Confidence Index for the Polish construction chemicals market. In the December 2015 survey, the Business Conditions Index for the construction chemicals industry in Poland stood at 25.1 points, which signifies improvement over 2014.
A comparison of the Business Conditions Index to the Corresponding Index (published for over 10 years based on the same set of questions) for the 200 largest construction companies operating in Poland reveals that, once again, the situation in the construction chemicals sector is better than in the construction market as a whole. However, the gap tends to narrow down from year to year. The trend is primarily driven by a fast-paced recovery of the construction market after the crisis years of 2012 and 2013 during which the civil engineering construction segment was hit particularly hard.