This week we published our ranking of 211 pipe, profile and tubing extruders with North American extrusion sales of $18.4 billion, up only a half percent over last year. For readers who love to play with the numbers, here are some key trends, as well as a breakout on the fastest-growing companies.
Nine of the top 10 companies in the ranking are pipe makers, who collectively reported sales declines of 2.2 percent. Resin pricing for PVC was down 1.8 percent and high density polyethylene down 9 percent in 2015, which accounts for much of the sales drop.
Total North American extrusion sales breakout looks like this: 53 percent Pipe, 40 percent profile and 7 percent tubing.
It seems that 2015 was a quiet year for many pipe makers. If you are familiar with our ranking charts you may have noticed that we make footnotes when firms make operational changes. When a particular industry is active we see many of these changes. The following chart uses that indicator to show activity in the pipe market over time.
